Alex Trebek has been battling Pancreatic cancer with a lot of courage. During the pandemic, and while not taping Jeopardy he also wrote his memoirs: "The Answer Is..."E! News put out a list of 20 "surprises" from the book. Here are five highlights:
1. Alex says he thought he needed a VICE so that people wouldn't think he was judging them, so he started interjecting CURSE WORDS into his vocabulary. He didn't become one of the guys though. Instead, he just came off as a jerk. So, he traded cursing for DRINKING. But he still doesn't drink all THAT much. He said, "Occasionally I'll have a glass of chardonnay. But my drink of choice is low-fat milk. It's become a habit. I drink low-fat milk and chardonnay - but not together."
2. Alex had an unexpected encounter with POT BROWNIES at a party back in the day. He said, quote, "The hosts said, 'Go ahead, help yourself.' I had four or five of them. I did not realize they were hash brownies. "The party was on a Friday night. The drugs knocked me out so much I spent the weekend laid out in their guest bedroom, and didn't leave their home until Monday morning. Talk about embarrassment."
3. Alex made one big change to "Jeopardy!" early on. He made it so that the contestants couldn't ring in until AFTER he'd finished reading the clue. Before that, they could buzz in as soon as the clue was revealed. He said, quote, "An unintended benefit was that it gave viewers a better experience of playing along."
4. His wife Jean is 24 years younger than he is, and he remembers that when he first met her dad, he took one look at Alex and said, quote, "I guess I won't be calling you 'son."
5. Alex has an unorthodox approach to breakfast. He said, quote, "For years, my breakfast of choice was a Snickers and a Diet Coke. Then, my doctor lectured me about changing that. So now it's a Kit Kat and a Diet Pepsi."
Alex Trebek talks about his battle with cancer:
