Alex Trebek has been a part of my life for literally as long as I can remember. The heartbreaking news of his death today has brought back a flood of memories. I started watching Jeopardy! as a young kid, and couldn't wait to get home from school each day to see that day's answers and questions. I tried out for the show and got the call in 2003 (17 years ago!) as a graduate student. I still remember being in the studio for the first time, and it's exactly as Brandon describes it:
Ask any contestant-we'll tell you it wasn't being under the lights, walking onto the set, or getting in front of the cameras. The moment being on Jeopardy finally hits you is when you see Alex Trebek in the flesh for the first time. Truly larger than life. Very sad-RIP Uncle Alex https://t.co/L4xMtuE7JL
— Brandon Blackwell (@_brandon2_) November 8, 2020
Jeopardy! went on to pay for an engagement ring, a wedding, and a down payment on a house over the next few years, but I figured that was the end of it. Then the "Battle of the Decades" tournament came around in 2014, and I got to see Alex and the crew again. And more importantly, to share the experience with a whole new set of friends and family, including our (at the time, very young) son.
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| Through the years with Alex, including one of our son at a watch party in 2014 |
And these are not isolated experiences -- especially after Alex announced his pancreatic cancer diagnosis a couple years ago, the stories came from far and wide about what Alex meant to them: from family memories made from watching Jeopardy!, to life experiences enabled by winnings on the show, to, in a particularly poignant moment from one of the last shows to air before his passing, a contestant telling Alex that he learned to speak English because of him. And to think, he was working through a truly brutal disease to continue bringing moments like these to all of us.
Alex's impact is immeasurable. Thank you for sharing, Burt! pic.twitter.com/XgGGwJ8GlH
— Jeopardy! (@Jeopardy) November 6, 2020
There aren't many people who have had such a important and lasting influence on so many. I know that the show will go on (and there's still a month and a half of episodes to air with Alex as host), but it'll never be the same. I'm thinking of your family in this difficult time, and the Jeopardy! family greatly misses you already.
