Ken Jennings and Jeopardy! Honoring Alex Trebek 4 years after his death

Four years after his death, Alex Trebek we love you more than ever.

Danger! honored Trebek cute video posted on their Instagram November 8, exactly four years after he died of pancreatic cancer at age 80.

The clip features the current host and the 74-match game. Danger! winner Ken Jennings spoke about the special interaction between him and Trebek shortly after the longtime host revealed his diagnosis in 2019.

“Today, on the anniversary of his passing, I’ve been thinking a lot about the last time I came here to see him host,” Jennings began. “It was just before the pandemic, he announced his cancer diagnosis and even asked if I would come backstage. And I was a little afraid of this. As a member, I was never in his dressing room.”

“He wasn’t feeling very well that day,” he continued. “Often he looked and sounded fantastic while performing but backstage he wasn’t in the best shape but he greeted me warmly and I asked how he was doing and I was really touched by how emotional he was about the performance ” the outpouring of love he received from Danger fans.”

“You won’t believe the tens of thousands of letters, notes, afghans (blankets), emails and everything that poured in,” he continued. “And he looked through everything and read it and said, “Ken, most people don’t get to hear good things about themselves because people don’t say it until they’re gone. They say things like that at funerals. He said, ‘I need to hear all this while I’m still here,’ and it was just nice how genuinely attentive and grateful he was for the opportunity.”

Jennings concluded his heartfelt video by noting: “What struck me then was that perhaps he never really thought about how much he meant to people as a light entertainer and quiz show host. He didn’t realize how important he was to the people who were watching Danger!. I remember hugging him, and maybe it was a mistake – I don’t know if Alex was a hugger – but it was just nice to see him and think about how he felt about his life in that way.”

“He didn’t realize what he meant to us and that was it,” he added.

Fans also remembered Trebek in the comments, who they loved after hosting the iconic game show for 37 seasons.

“Crazy to think it’s been 4 years already,” one user wrote. “Alex, we love you and miss you. I hope heaven treats you well.

Another commented: “He felt like an honorary grandfather in many ways. No matter what was going on in my life growing up, Alex and the show were a constant source of solace for a nerdy girl trying to figure out her place in the world. A real class act. We miss you, Alex. ”

“Thank you Alex…” someone else simply wrote.

Trebek died on November 8, 2020, after being diagnosed with stage four pancreatic cancer in March 2019. Just months before his diagnosis, in January 2019, Trebek open to PEOPLE about a possible future retirement that he didn’t see happening anytime soon.

“They’ve been wondering (if I was going to retire) for years,” he said at the time. “One day someone asked me, ‘Have you thought about retiring?’ This was about seven or eight years ago. And I said, “Yes, there is.” Well, suddenly Trebek is retiring. No. He was thinking about retiring!”

He continued: “You get to a certain age and if you were on the same show for 30 years or the same job, whatever it was, for 30 years, wouldn’t you consider quitting to retire? What will I do? I enjoy life and have a good time doing what I do now, but if I retired, what would I do? I’ll get lost.”

Trebek continued to work on Danger! through his battle with cancer until his death, with his final episode airing posthumously in January 2021.

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Danger! airs weekdays (check local listings).