For 37 years, Alex Trebek hosted the popular show "Jeopardy!" Last month, he died at age 80 after a battle with pancreatic cancer.
Hour Detroit magazine asked six Michigan contestants to share memories of the host.
John W. Schultz, Pittsfield Township, won $115,500 in eight 2015 games
People probably don’t realize that Alex’s delivery of a clue was occasionally not the same delivery the players heard during the game. If he stumbled over, mispronounced or just plain missed a word, he would re-record his voice-over during the next commercial break. He was most likely to mess up when players switched categories and dollar amounts unpredictably, which, I assume, is why he regularly mocked or complained about players jumping around the board.
I was paying a lot of attention to "Jeopardy!" game theory when I appeared on the show, so I intended to bounce around hunting for Daily Doubles. However, I realized before playing my first game just how much Alex hated getting anything wrong, so I played straight up and down the categories for the most part. I like to think it paid off when Alex — the sole arbiter of how long a player has to answer on Daily Doubles — gave me what seemed like an extra-long time to come up with a critical Daily Double response during my third game.
Armen Terjimanian of Troy recalls the host asking: "So, was it good for you guys?" (Photo: Facebook)
Armen Terjimanian, Troy, won $2,000 in one game in 2013
Before Alex got sick, contestants would gather at center stage and chat with him at the end of the show. The first thing he asked us was: "So, was it good for you guys?" I still chuckle about that to this day.
After that icebreaker, he talked about his family history, his father who came from Ukraine and shortened the family name to Trebek, and his mother, a French Canadian. I wonder if he chose that line of conversation because he knew I was Armenian or if that was just a coincidence. That closing credits conversation is really the only close interaction contestants had with Alex.
