49 Fun Facts About Alex Trebek

Who created Jeopardy! and hired Trebek for its 1984 revival?

Merv Griffin. The format was his wife Julann's idea: quiz shows had been caught feeding contestants the answers, so she suggested handing the answers over and asking for the questions.

In which Canadian city was Trebek born?

Sudbury, Ontario. His father was a hotel chef in the mining town; Trebek left at 12, when his parents divorced, for a boarding school in another city.

Alex was Trebek's middle name, so what was his first given name?

George. He was named for his father, George Edward Trebek, a hotel chef, and family and friends called the boy Sonny to tell the two apart.

Trebek's father emigrated as a child from which country?

Ukraine. The family name was Terebeychuk when he left, and with a French-Canadian mother his son grew up speaking both French and English.

Why did Trebek drop out of a military college in Quebec?

He was asked to shave his head. By his own account he lasted three days: after two of hazing, the regulation haircut was the last straw, since, as he wrote, 'I had a good head of hair'.

What was Trebek's first job, at age 13?

It was at the hotel where his father worked as a chef.

From which school did Trebek graduate with a philosophy degree in 1961?

University of Ottawa. He paid his tuition by working nights as a radio announcer, and later repaid the school with millions in gifts; its alumni hall was named for him in 2015.

For which broadcaster did Trebek begin his career in 1961?

CBC. He started there part-time to pay for university and stayed on after graduating, reading news, weather and sports before anyone let him host a show.

What was Trebek's first hosting job, a Canadian teen dance show launched in 1963?

Music Hop. It was the country's first live teen music show, and its fresh-faced host was still three years away from fronting his first quiz.

Which Canadian high-school quiz show did Trebek host starting in 1966?

Reach for the Top. It was his first quiz show: for seven years he fired general-knowledge questions at teams of teenagers, and found the job he would do for life.

Why did Trebek reportedly lose out on hosting Hockey Night in Canada in 1971?

His mustache. The producer who auditioned him says his boss refused to hire men with mustaches; told the story decades later, Trebek thanked him for turning him down.

Which fellow Canadian, later a sitcom dad, lured Trebek to the US to host The Wizard of Odds?

Alan Thicke. He also wrote and sang the show's theme song; NBC dropped it within a year but kept its host.

Which casino-style NBC game show did Trebek host in two separate runs, starting in 1974?

High Rollers. It took over the slot of his cancelled first American show, so NBC swapped one Trebek game for another, and later brought this one back for a second run.

Which CBS game show hosted by Trebek shared its name with a later Nickelodeon hit?

Double Dare. There was no slime in his version: it was a quiz for adults that lasted less than a year, a decade before Nickelodeon gave the name to its messy kids' game.

Which Saturday Night Live star played Trebek as a host driven to despair by idiotic celebrity contestants?

Will Ferrell. Trebek enjoyed the send-up of himself as a tightly wound taskmaster, and in 2002 he walked onto the SNL set to stand beside his impersonator.

Trebek was never paid for hosting which syndicated show after its producer went bankrupt?

Pitfall. An unpaid debt sank the Vancouver company behind it; contestants went without their prizes too, and Trebek called it the only time anyone had stiffed him.

Which Hollywood legend encouraged the creator of Jeopardy! to hire Trebek for the 1984 revival?

Lucille Ball. With the I Love Lucy star's backing he shot two pilots for the revival, and the one that sold gave him a job for the rest of his life.

Who was the original Jeopardy! host whom Trebek succeeded?

Art Fleming. He fronted the original from 1964 to 1975, and the 1984 revival went to his friend instead; a quarter of a century apart, the same illness killed them both.

Which NBC puzzle game did Trebek host alongside Jeopardy! until 1991?

Classic Concentration. Hosting two daily shows at once was not enough for him: in his last months on this one he took on a third as well.

In 1991 Trebek became the first person to host three US game shows at once by taking over which one?

He replaced Lynn Swann on February 4, 1991 and stayed until the run ended that May.

Which cooking competition did Trebek host for CBS in the 1990s?

Pillsbury Bake-Off. He fronted the press conference at which the contest raised its grand prize from $50,000 to $1 million.

With whom did Trebek swap shows on April Fools' Day 1997?

Pat Sajak. It made that day's Jeopardy! the only episode in 37 seasons that Trebek did not host: he was spinning the wheel, with Sajak and Vanna White playing for charity.

On which sitcom did Trebek play himself when a know-it-all mailman went on Jeopardy!?

Cheers. In a 1990 episode, Cliff Clavin's Final Jeopardy! response is 'Who are three people who've never been in my kitchen?'

Which 2019 champion joined the show's two biggest winners in Trebek's 2020 Greatest of All Time special?

James Holzhauer. His 2019 winning streak, built on enormous bets, gripped viewers in the weeks after Trebek announced his illness, and earned him a place beside the two biggest winners.

For which international children's charity did Trebek tape reports from developing countries as a spokesman?

World Vision. He went further than lending his name: in Zambia he adopted a village and helped build it a school, teachers' houses and a clinic.

In The X-Files episode Jose Chung's From Outer Space, Trebek played what?

A Man in Black. He and the wrestler Jesse Ventura turn up at a UFO witness's door to tell him that all he really saw was the planet Venus.

Trebek apologized after moderating the 2018 Wolf-Wagner governor's debate in which state?

Pennsylvania. He wanted a conversation and ended up doing more than 40 percent of the talking himself; the crowd booed, and he apologized for misreading a moderator's job.

Trebek announced which NHL team's third-overall pick, in Jeopardy! style, at the 2020 draft?

Ottawa Senators. 'Our category today is the NHL,' he began, and the clip of him reading out the pick as a clue went viral, a month before he died.

A 2013 Reader's Digest poll ranked Trebek eighth on its list of the 100 most what in America?

Trusted people. That mattered to him: he wanted his show to be an oasis of learning and a safe space for facts, and it had just been honored as a model of integrity.

What sent Trebek's pickup truck flying off a rural California road in 2004?

He fell asleep at the wheel. The truck took out a row of mailboxes, sailed over an embankment and landed in a ditch; he walked away unhurt and was back taping four days later.

Which honor, rarely given to quiz shows, did Trebek's Jeopardy! win for 'encouraging, celebrating and rewarding knowledge'?

A Peabody Award. It was the first for a quiz show in more than 50 years, a pointed verdict on a genre that rigged games had once disgraced.

What animals did Trebek breed and train at his Creston Farms ranch near Paso Robles?

Thoroughbred racehorses. He did more than lend his name: he owned and managed the 700-acre operation himself for years before selling up.

What long-held wish did Trebek fulfill on the Western Maryland Scenic Railroad in 2011?

Driving a steam locomotive. He took the controls for the run from Cumberland up to Frostburg, and the local paper reported it in the form of a Jeopardy! clue.

Which student competition did Trebek host in the US for 25 years?

National Geographic Bee. He asked its questions from 1989 to 2013, and the Society credits him with turning a school contest into a nationally televised one.

Which IBM computer beat two Jeopardy! champions in a 2011 match hosted by Trebek?

Watson. One of the beaten champions conceded on his answer screen with a line from The Simpsons: 'I, for one, welcome our new computer overlords.'

What name did a Los Angeles homeless shelter take after a $100,000 gift from the Jeopardy! host in 2020?

The Trebek Center. Hope of the Valley built its 107 beds inside a roller rink that the pandemic had closed, and opened it in 2022, a year and a half after his death.

Trebek's son gave his father's suits and ties in 2021 to which New York charity for people leaving homelessness and prison?

The Doe Fund. The 14 suits, 58 dress shirts and 300 ties went to people in its re-entry program to wear to job interviews, as Trebek had asked on his last day of taping.

How did Trebek injure his Achilles tendon in 2011?

Chasing a burglar from his hotel room. He was 71; the intruder, a woman with four burglary convictions, had taken his wallet and a bracelet, and he tore the tendon running after her.

What diagnosis did Trebek announce in a video message in March 2019?

Stage IV pancreatic cancer. He told viewers he planned to beat the odds, and joked that he had to: his contract obliged him to host Jeopardy! for three more years.

What was the title of Trebek's 2020 memoir?

The Answer Is... It came out the day before his 80th birthday, and in it the buttoned-up host owned up to a swearing habit and a military career that lasted three days.

Which longtime announcer introduced Trebek as 'the host of Jeopardy!' at the top of each show?

Johnny Gilbert. He saw what the cue did for the ailing host in 2020, 'Once I introduce him on that stage, he is Alex Trebek', and the two entered the show's Hall of Fame together in 2022.

Who was lined up to fill in as Jeopardy! host on the weekend Trebek died?

Ken Jennings. On the phone that weekend Trebek, his voice weak, thanked him for stepping in; 'I'd take a bullet for you, Alex,' Jennings replied, not knowing he had 36 hours left.

Trebek's final episode was first due to air on which holiday before being postponed?

Christmas Day. The producers held his last week back until January 4-8 so that more people would see the send-off, which closed with a 90-second tribute.

What was Sony's Studio 10 renamed in August 2021?

The Alex Trebek Stage. His widow and children watched the dedication beside the man just named as his successor, who gave up the job the very next day.

Trebek won which award eight times as Outstanding Game Show Host?

Daytime Emmy. He was handed the lifetime achievement award in 2011 and then kept winning: three of his eight came afterwards, the last seven months after he died.

Which Canadian honor did Trebek receive in 2017 for his work promoting a love of learning?

Officer of the Order of Canada. By then he had been an American for nearly twenty years, but the country he left in 1973 still claimed him as one of its own.

The 2024 US Forever stamp honoring Trebek carries a Jeopardy!-style clue calling him what kind of citizen?

Naturalized. He took US citizenship in 1998, and the stamp turns it into a clue, with the response printed upside down beneath: 'This naturalized U.S. citizen hosted the quiz show Jeopardy! for 37 seasons'.

With Trebek's backing, Eddie Timanus won five straight Jeopardy! games in 1999 as the show's first contestant who was what?

Blind. The show gave him the categories on a Braille card and a Braille keyboard for Final Jeopardy!, and the American Foundation for the Blind honored Trebek for making it work.

Trebek's final film role, released posthumously in 2021, was a cameo in which movie?

Free Guy. He shot the cameo on his own Jeopardy! stage; the pandemic then delayed the film, so it reached cinemas nine months after he died.