Cancer, Trebek has shown class as ‘Jeopardy!’ host

trated on easing contestants’ anxieties.

“I do the same thing to this day on ‘Jeopardy!’” he writes. “When a contestant guesses wrong, I’ll respond gently, ‘Oh, you were so close.’”

By the ’70s, Trebek was hosting game shows, including “The Wizard of Odds” and “The $128,000 Question.” The shows may be forgotten, but Trebek wasn’t. He worked constantly. Living in L.A, driving a vintage convertible, “I was in hog heaven,” Trebek writes.

Still, he admits, he didn’t fit in.

He acquired some exuberantly plaid suits and an alldenim outfit known as the “Canadian tuxedo.” Trebek tried cursing in hopes of sounding more macho. He joked about drinking, although he rarely had more than a glass of chardonnay.

And so Trebek remained an outsider. Offered brownies at a party, he gobbled a handful, unaware they were baked with hash.

“Mr. Naïve here,” he says. “The drugs knocked me out so much I spent the weekend laid out in their guest room.”

It seemed Trebek just couldn’t help being square. Luckily, that was precisely what Merv Griffin wanted when he decided to revive “Jeopardy!” in 1984. Trebek got the job and has held it for a record 36 years.

He admits it’s a sweet gig. They tape just two days a week, doing 10 shows.

The categories are chosen randomly, to avoid giving any particular contestant an edge. Still, some categories fail with everyone. Trebek recalls one centered on football. The three contestants, not a gridiron fan among them, didn’t buzz in once.

Another odd category was “When the Aztecs Spoke Welsh.” Trebek remembers struggling with the tonguetwisting clues during rehearsal until the writers gleefully pointed out that day’s date: April 1.

Trebek has sweeter memories of the show’s winners. Champions Ken Jennings and James Holzhauer, of course, became stars. But he also cites Eddie Timanus, a blind contestant, who won five straight games using a special Braille keyboard. Cindy Stowell won six games while fighting Stage IV colon cancer.

Stowell donated her winnings to the Cancer Research Institute, and died the week before her shows aired.

Trebek has a special appreciation for her now. Last March, he was diagnosed with Stage IV pancreatic cancer.

He has undergone exhausting rounds of chemotherapy since. Recently he sat down with Jean, his wife of 30 years, and their two adult children to share some news: This will be his last round of treatment.

“It wasn’t an easy conversation and it isn’t any easier writing these words,” he says. “Quality of life was an important consideration.”

But right now, he says, that quality is fine.

Yes, he lost his hair to the chemo, but got a toupee – “a damn good one,” notes the man who knows how to look sharp. He enjoys his work with various causes and is a longtime contributor and traveling ambassador for World Vision, a Christian charity that works internationally in impoverished communities.

And however poorly he may be feeling, every time he s eps on that “Jeopardy!” stage, he feels the energy. Also, Trebek says, the responsibility.

He feels obligated to be a role model for other people fighting this disease, he thinks. That means “a lot of pressure to always be tough – to be stoic and show a stiff upper lip. But I’m a G—damn wuss. I start to cry for no reason at all.”

But then, maybe crying, he says, “means you’re not pretending. And not pretending, being willing to let your guard down and show people how you truly feel and admit that you’re a wuss is one of the toughest things a person can do. It’s also the most helpful thing a person can do.”

So who is Alex Trebek? This question should be an allin Daily Double. The answer is: What is a pretty great guy?