Alex Trebek, the legendary host of the longtime hit show “Jeopardy!”, shocked fans Wednesday when he announced on Twitter that he has been diagnosed with stage 4 pancreatic cancer.
Trebek, who has hosted the show since 1984, was stoic during his announcement and ended it with a joke about his contract with the show.
Here’s his statement:
“Hi everyone, I have some news to share with all of you and it’s in keeping with my longtime policy of being open and transparent with our Jeopardy! fan base. I also wanted to prevent you from reading or hearing some overblown or inaccurate reports regarding my health. So therefore, I wanted to be the one to pass along this information. Now, just like 50,000 other people in the United States each year, this week I was diagnosed with stage 4 pancreatic cancer.
Now normally the prognosis for this is not very encouraging, but I’m going to fight this and I’m going to keep working. And with the love and support of my family and friends and with the help of your prayers also, I plan to beat the low survival rate statistics for this disease. Truth told, I have to. Because under the terms of my contract, I have to host Jeopardy! for three more years! So help me. Keep the faith and we’ll win. We’ll get it done. Thank you.”
You can watch it here:
Twitter offered it’s support and love:
