Victory was sweet for Alex Trebek on Sunday, even if it comes along his bittersweet cancer journey.
The beloved “Jeopardy” host, 78, took home a prestigious Daytime Emmy award for best gameshow, and gave a rousing acceptance speech that would inspire any cancer survivor, trading on his unique sense of humor.
“I was concerned that sympathy might play a big role,” Trebek joked to the Los Angeles crowd. “I’m not a fan of sympathy votes, because I believe you should be judged on the merits of your work.”
But because he’s been sick before, he knew the award wasn’t just about illness. “However, I started thinking back to last year. I had just had major surgery to remove two life-threatening blood clots on my brain. I think that would have earned me a certain amount of sympathy, but I didn’t win,” he said. “So maybe I’ve been worrying about the wrong thing, and I’ll do what Sally Field did when she won at a different venue many, many years ago, and [accept] this as a sign you like guys like me and value my work. I’ll tell you, if that’s the case, I can live with that. Thank you.”
Trebek recently revealed he is battling stage four pancreatic cancer.
While this cancer is difficult to treat, there are still a handful of options that someone in Trebek’s position could try. “It is true that it’s still the minority of patients that are cured with pancreas cancer, and certainly if it’s already metastatic, our options are limited,” Dr. Daniel Labow, Chair of Surgery at Mount Sinai St. Luke’s and Mount Sinai West, told SurvivorNet after Trebek was diagnosed. Dr. Labow did say, however, that there are now newer chemotherapies and newer approaches that can be implemented.
Trebek also said backstage at the Emmy event to the Holly wood Reporter that he felt a lot of warmth coming from his peers, which meant a lot to him. “The reception I got from the audience was extremely special, very touching. We all know what’s going on in my life and I alluded to that in my remarks and I’ve been very blessed to discover how many people our show has influenced in their lives,” he said. “‘Jeopardy’ has become a special institution in Americana. And it has been a force for good, a force for knowledge, a force for the best kind of reality television if you think about it. Anybody can succeed, anybody can win a lot of money, Just ask James Holzhauer.”
James Holzhauer is Jeopardy’s current star, and he’s broken a lot of the shows records. If he keeps winning, he may even break the record that all-star Ken Jennings set in 2004 with 74 consecutive wins. “He’s been a lot of fun to watch, yes indeed,” said Trebek of the star. “There are no areas in which he cannot do well. He has missed only one Final Jeopardy since he came on the program. And he’s coming back in two weeks after the teacher’s tournament. So you’re gonna get to enjoy James and Alex for a while longer. How ’bout that folks. This has been a special year for Jeopardy and certainly a very special, and in many ways rewarding year for me, to discover how loved I am all across America.”
Since he announced his diagnosis, Trebek has been leading with hope and positivity, and he’s reiterating that now. “If there’s a message I can put out there, it is as I discovered yesterday at the PanCan walk is that there’s hope. I ran into pancreatic cancer survivors who have survived for 22 years, 14 years, 12 years, 15 years. So there is hope.”
And he even quoted so hopeful words from TV doctor Dr. Oz. “As Dr. Oz mentioned to me while we were sitting during a commercial break this evening, he said, ‘You know Alex, if you developed pancreatic cancer maybe 10 to 15 years ago, it would be a lot rougher on you. But so many more new medications are available to sufferers, so many new techniques, so many new ways of dealing with the mutations…. If you’re gonna get something bad like this, you got it at a good time.'” he said. “So that’s the message I would send to all people out there and their better halves, the people who look after them, their caretakers — the people who have such a difficult, difficult chore.”
Learn more about SurvivorNet's rigorous medical review process.
Victory was sweet for Alex Trebek on Sunday, even if it comes along his bittersweet cancer journey.
The beloved “Jeopardy” host, 78, took home a prestigious Daytime Emmy award for best gameshow, and gave a rousing acceptance speech that would inspire any cancer survivor, trading on his unique sense of humor.
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“I was concerned that sympathy might play a big role,” Trebek joked to the Los Angeles crowd. “I’m not a fan of sympathy votes, because I believe you should be judged on the merits of your work.”
But because he’s been sick before, he knew the award wasn’t just about illness. “However, I started thinking back to last year. I had just had major surgery to remove two life-threatening blood clots on my brain. I think that would have earned me a certain amount of sympathy, but I didn’t win,” he said. “So maybe I’ve been worrying about the wrong thing, and I’ll do what Sally Field did when she won at a different venue many, many years ago, and [accept] this as a sign you like guys like me and value my work. I’ll tell you, if that’s the case, I can live with that. Thank you.”
Trebek recently revealed he is battling stage four pancreatic cancer.
While this cancer is difficult to treat, there are still a handful of options that someone in Trebek’s position could try. “It is true that it’s still the minority of patients that are cured with pancreas cancer, and certainly if it’s already metastatic, our options are limited,” Dr. Daniel Labow, Chair of Surgery at Mount Sinai St. Luke’s and Mount Sinai West, told SurvivorNet after Trebek was diagnosed. Dr. Labow did say, however, that there are now newer chemotherapies and newer approaches that can be implemented.
Trebek also said backstage at the Emmy event to the Holly wood Reporter that he felt a lot of warmth coming from his peers, which meant a lot to him. “The reception I got from the audience was extremely special, very touching. We all know what’s going on in my life and I alluded to that in my remarks and I’ve been very blessed to discover how many people our show has influenced in their lives,” he said. “‘Jeopardy’ has become a special institution in Americana. And it has been a force for good, a force for knowledge, a force for the best kind of reality television if you think about it. Anybody can succeed, anybody can win a lot of money, Just ask James Holzhauer.”
James Holzhauer is Jeopardy’s current star, and he’s broken a lot of the shows records. If he keeps winning, he may even break the record that all-star Ken Jennings set in 2004 with 74 consecutive wins. “He’s been a lot of fun to watch, yes indeed,” said Trebek of the star. “There are no areas in which he cannot do well. He has missed only one Final Jeopardy since he came on the program. And he’s coming back in two weeks after the teacher’s tournament. So you’re gonna get to enjoy James and Alex for a while longer. How ’bout that folks. This has been a special year for Jeopardy and certainly a very special, and in many ways rewarding year for me, to discover how loved I am all across America.”
Since he announced his diagnosis, Trebek has been leading with hope and positivity, and he’s reiterating that now. “If there’s a message I can put out there, it is as I discovered yesterday at the PanCan walk is that there’s hope. I ran into pancreatic cancer survivors who have survived for 22 years, 14 years, 12 years, 15 years. So there is hope.”
And he even quoted so hopeful words from TV doctor Dr. Oz. “As Dr. Oz mentioned to me while we were sitting during a commercial break this evening, he said, ‘You know Alex, if you developed pancreatic cancer maybe 10 to 15 years ago, it would be a lot rougher on you. But so many more new medications are available to sufferers, so many new techniques, so many new ways of dealing with the mutations…. If you’re gonna get something bad like this, you got it at a good time.'” he said. “So that’s the message I would send to all people out there and their better halves, the people who look after them, their caretakers — the people who have such a difficult, difficult chore.”
Learn more about SurvivorNet's rigorous medical review process.
