Alex Trebek, the Sudbury-born host of Jeopardy!, announced Wednesday that he is battling pancreatic cancer.
“Hi everyone,” Trebek begins in the video. “I have some news to share with all of you and it's in keeping with my longtime policy of being open and transparent with our Jeopardy! fan base. I also wanted to prevent you from reading or hearing some over balloon or inaccurate reports regarding my health.”
Trebek, 78, goes on to say that he is one of 50,000 people in the United States diagnosed with stage 4 pancreatic cancer, a particularly deadly form of the disease.
“Now normally the prognosis for this is not very encouraging but I'm going to fight this and I'm going to keep working and with the love and support of my family and friends and with the help of your prayers,” Trebek said. “Also, I plan to beat the low survival rate statistics for this disease.”
Despite the sad news, he was able to joke that he would have to survive for legal reasons.
“Truth told, I have to because under the terms of my contract, I have to host Jeopardy! for three more years,” Trebek said. “So help me keep the faith and we'll win. We'll get it done. Thank you.”
Trebek was born in Sudbury in 1940, and spent his early years growing up in the Flour Mill area of the city. According to the Canadian Encyclopedia, his mother was francophone and his father was a Ukranian immigrant.
Starting out on the CBC, where his hosting duties included Reach for the Top, Trebek has won five Daytime Emmy Awards and has 27 nominations for Outstanding Game Show Host. He holds the Guinness World Record for the most game shows hosted by the same presenter.
Trebek has received a Peabody Award, and several lifetime achievement and hall of fame honours, including stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and Canada’s Walk of Fame.
He headed to the U.S. in 1973, lured by another Northern Ontario native, the late Alan Thicke, to host a short-lived game show called The Wizard of Odds. More game show hosting duties followed until he became the star of Jeopardy! in 1984.
