Alex Trebek is back in action! The beloved Jeopardy! host revealed on Thursday, August 29, that he was headed back to work on the hit game show just five months after announcing his stage IV pancreatic cancer diagnosis.
“I’ve gone through a lot of chemotherapy and thankfully that is now over,” Trebek, 79, said in a video posted to Jeopardy!’s YouTube page. “I’m on the mend, and that’s all that I can hope for right now.”
He added of the upcoming 36th season: “We have some exciting things coming up and I can’t wait to share them with you all. It’s going to be a good year.”
Trebek shared news of his health battle in March. “Just like 50,000 other people in the United States each year, this week I was diagnosed with stage IV pancreatic cancer,” he said in a video at the time. “Now, normally the prognosis for this is not very encouraging, but I’m gonna fight this and I’m gonna keep working and with the love and support of my family and friends and with the help of your prayers also, I plan to beat the low survival rate statistics for this disease.”
In May, Trebek sat down with Good Morning America’s Robin Roberts and spoke openly about his struggles and how he was handling the diagnosis.
“My oncologist tells me I’m doing well even though I don’t always feel it. I’ve had kidney stones, I’ve had ruptured discs, so I’m used to dealing with pain,” the Canada native explained. “But what I’m not used to dealing with is the surges that come on suddenly of deep, deep sadness and it brings tears to my eye. I’ve discovered in this whole episode, ladies and gentlemen, that I’m a bit of a wuss.”
Trebek also shared that his medical results were improving. “My platelets, my blood counts are steady,” he continued. “My weight is steady. … The cancer indicators, those are coming down. I’ve got another chemo next week and we’ll do a review and see where things stand.”
Trebek has hosted Jeopardy! since 1984.