Alex Trebek Holds Back Tears After Jeopardy! Contestant Gives a Heartfelt and Costly Answer
One Jeopardy! contestant’s act of kindness during Monday night’s show nearly brought host Alex Trebek to tears.
During the Final Jeopardy round, contestant Dhruv Gaur used his opportunity to answer the clue to spread some love for the longtime game show host.
“Did you come up with the right one? No?” Trebek, 79, asked Gaur as his answer to the final clue appeared on the screen.
“What is we love you Alex,” Trebek read aloud. “That’s very kind, thank you.”
Trebek saw that Gaur gave up nearly all of his remaining $2,000 on the incorrect answer.
“Cost you $1,995. You’re left with five bucks,” Trebek said, seemingly holding back tears of gratitude for the kind words.
RELATED: Jeopardy! Teen Donates $10k to Cancer Research in Alex Trebek’s Honor
Gaur later addressed his decision on Twitter, explaining Trebek had just shared with the contestants he had reentered treatment.
“We were all hurting for him so badly,” Gaur wrote.
“When Final Jeopardy came up, I could’ve tried to puzzle it together, but really, just kept thinking about Alex, and thought he should know.”
“I’m just very grateful I got the opportunity to say what I know everyone was thinking. Sending all the love. #weloveyoualex.”
Sorry for west coast spoilers, but I’m really glad I got the opportunity to say to Alex what everybody at the tournament was thinking ... 1/n
— Dhruv Gaur (@dhruvg_) November 12, 2019
Gaur’s sweet message comes as Trebek continues to battle pancreatic cancer.
Although Trebek initially finished his treatment in August, he revealed on Good Morning America in September that he was once again undergoing chemotherapy.
“I was doing so well and my numbers went down to the equivalent of a normal human being who does not have pancreatic cancer, so we were all very optimistic,” Trebek said at the time. “They said, ‘Good, we’re going to stop chemo, we’ll start you on immunotherapy,’ and I lost about 12 lbs. in a week and my numbers went sky-high, much higher than they were when I was first diagnosed.”
While he told GMA that he hopes to continue hosting Jeopardy! for as long as he can, he said in October that there may be a point in the not-too-distant future when he has to step away from the beloved game show.
“I will keep doing it as long as my skills do not diminish, and they have started to diminish,” he told Canada’s CTV News. “I’m sure there are observant members of the television audience that notice also, but they’re forgiving. But there will come a point when [fans and producers] will no longer be able to say, ‘It’s okay.’ ”
RELATED: Alex Trebek Releases New PSA to Raise Pancreatic Cancer Awareness: ‘I Wished I Had Known Sooner’
Earlier this month, another Jeopardy! contestant donated $10,000 to cancer research in honor of Trebek.
Avi Gupta, the 18-year-old Columbia University freshman who took home $100,000 on the show this summer, announced on Twitter that he would be giving a portion of his winnings to the Knight Cancer Institute.
“I was inspired to give by Alex Trebek, the host of Jeopardy! and someone who I have looked up to my whole life,” he said. “It was a dream come true earlier this year to finally join him on the Jeopardy! stage and the Jeopardy! teen tournament.”
November is also Pancreatic Cancer Awareness Month, and Gupta said his goal “is to support research into pancreatic cancer awareness and early detection.”
