In October, Trebek recorded five additional episodes to be broadcast which began airing this Monday and will continue throughout the week. He taped the final games despite the fact that he had undergone intestinal surgery less than two weeks before taping, according to CBS Evening News. He continued his message, saying, “I know you want to be generous with your family, your friends, your loved ones. But today, I’d like you to go one step further.” Addressing the nation’s stress and grief amid the Covid-19 pandemic, he said, “I’d like you to open up your hands and open up your heart to those who are still suffering because of COVID-19.” He went on to say, “People who are suffering through no fault of their own,” and “We’re trying to build a gentler, kinder society. And if we all pitch in, just a little bit, we’re gonna get there.” A fitting swan song for the man who became a mainstay on millions of families’ television screens for upwards of 30 years in his Jeopardy! tenure, a host whose presence became “synonymous with knowledge itself,” according to The New Yorker. There will never be another. Trebek.
