Trebek shelved after brain surgery
Alex Trebek’s no-nonsense tone is something of his trademark. The “Jeopardy!” host has employed it in more than 6,800 episodes of the game show, doling out kind rebukes and droll affirmations to players.
Trebek used that same tone Thursday to announce on YouTube that he’s on a leave of absence from the show after undergoing brain surgery for blood clots — medically known as subdural hematoma — that were “caused by a fall I endured two months ago.”
Wearing a yellow sweater, jeans and a blue “Jeopardy!” hat, the 77-year-old wryly addressed the camera, calling the procedure “a slight medical problem.”
“The prognosis is excellent, and I expect to be back in the studio taping more ‘Jeopardy!’ programs very, very soon.”
Trebek was admitted to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles on Dec. 15 and underwent surgery the next day, Sony Pictures Entertainment said. He was released Dec. 18.
Trebek is expected to begin taping the show again in mid-January.
“Jeopardy!” is filmed months in advance, so the filming hiatus won’t impact its broadcast schedule, save for one exception: The College Championship, which was scheduled to be taped now, will be filmed in March and air in April.
The game show, which is in its 34th season, has been hosted by Trebek since it was revived in 1984.
In June 2014, the Guinness Book of World Records awarded him the record for most game-show episodes hosted by the same presenter on the same show (6,829).
The only time someone else hosted the program in that time was on April 1, 1997, when he and “Wheel of Fortune” host Pat Sajak switched shows for a day as an April Fool’s gag.
Trebek recently renewed his contract to continue hosting the game show through the 2019-2020 season.