Alex Trebek gets emotional on ‘Jeopardy!’ following contestant’s unexpected heartfelt message

The 79-year-old game show host has pancreatic cancer

Game show host Alex Trebek was nearly brought to tears during Monday night’s episode of Jeopardy! following a contestant’s random act of kindness.

During the final round of the US trivia game show – where contestants must answer clues “in the form of a question” – contestant Dhruv Gaur used the opportunity to show the long-time host some love.

The category was “famous phrases” and the clue was, “in the title of a groundbreaking 1890 exposé of poverty in New York City slums, these three words follow ‘How the.’ ”

As his answer, Gaur penned the message “We love you, Alex!” with a heart in place of the word “love,” betting $1995 of his $2000 on the answer.

The typically stoic host was visibly moved by the response and became emotional as he read the message aloud.

“That’s very kind. Thank you,” Trebek said before becoming so choked up that he struggled to get out his next words. “Cost you $1,995. You’re left with five.”

Trebek managed to compose himself and move on to the other contestants' answers.

However the touching moment quickly started making the rounds on social media, with “We love you, Alex” trending on Twitter.

“Alex Trebek getting choked up during Final Jeopardy today messed me all the way up,” one person commented on a clip of the video.

Another added: “This is so touching.”

Gaur later addressed his decision to pen the personal note on Twitter, explaining that Trebek had just revealed to the contestants that he had re-entered treatment for pancreatic cancer.

“For context, Alex had just shared with us that he was re-entering treatment for pancreatic cancer. We were all hurting for him so badly,” Gaur tweeted.

“When Final Jeopardy came up, I could’ve tried to puzzle it together, but really, just kept thinking about Alex, and thought he should know.”

Fans of the game show have been rallying around Trebek since he revealed his diagnosis earlier this year.

Although Trebek initially finished his treatment in August, he revealed on Good Morning America (GMA) in September that he was once again undergoing chemotherapy.

“I was doing so well and my numbers went down to the equivalent of a normal human being who does not have pancreatic cancer, so we were all very optimistic,” Trebek said at the time.

“They said, ‘Good, we’re going to stop chemo, we’ll start you on immunotherapy,’ and I lost about 12 lbs in a week and my numbers went sky-high, much higher than they were when I was first diagnosed.”

While Trebek told GMA he hopes to continue hosting Jeopardy! for as long as he can, he said in October that there may be a point when he has to step away.

“I will keep doing it as long as my skills do not diminish, and they have started to diminish,” he told Canada’s CTV News.

“I’m sure there are observant members of the television audience that notice also, but they’re forgiving. But there will come a point when [fans and producers] will no longer be able to say, ‘It’s okay’."