Alex Trebek has offered an update on his health and the future of Jeopardy!
A goatee-sporting Trebek said in a YouTube video that he is “doing well” and his “numbers are great” amid his cancer treatment.
The long-time Canadian Jeopardy! host was diagnosed with Stage 4 pancreatic cancer in March 2019.
“I’ve been continuing my treatment and it is paying off, though it does fatigue me a great deal,” Trebek said.
In March 2020, Trebek said he had beaten the one-year survival rate for his disease, which is 18 per cent.
Pancreatic cancer has one of the lowest survival rates of all cancers. According to the U.S. National Cancer Institute, the five-year survival rate from 2008 to 2014 was 8.5 per cent.
Stage 4 is the most advanced form of the disease.
Trebek also mentioned in the video that his memoir, The Answer Is…, will be released July 21 — a day before his 80th birthday.
According to the publisher Simon & Schuster, the Jeopardy! host will share “illuminating personal anecdotes” along with thoughts on everything from his favourite guests to spirituality and philanthropy.
Jeopardy!, like most other shows, has been on hiatus during the coronavirus pandemic.
However, Trebek said that he hopes he will be back in the studio soon to record shows for a new season in September.
In the meantime, he said he has recorded show openings at home for a batch of special Jeopardy! episodes that will be released in July.
They will feature favourite episodes from the Jeopardy! vault, including the very first show Trebek hosted, in 1984 — “mustache and all,” he joked.
-With files from Chris Jancelewicz and Katie Scott