Alex Trebek became emotional after a fan wrote a sweet message to him in lieu of an answer on Monday night’s episode of "Jeopardy!".
During the “Final Jeopardy” question, contestant Dhruv Gaur, trailing his competitors by more than $10,000, wrote “What is We <3 you, Alex!” instead of trying to answer the question posed.
“Dhruv, you’re smiling, I like that. Let’s take a look at your response. Did you come up with a right one?" Trebek said when it was time to read aloud Gaur’s answer.
After reading, “What is, We love you Alex?”, the 79-year old Jeopardy host became emotional, saying, “That’s very kind of you. Thank you.”
Appearing to hold back tears, Trebek then told Gaur that his answer cost him $1,995. “You’re left with five bucks,” he said.
Trebek, who has hosted "Jeopardy!" since 1984, announced in March that he had been diagnosed with stage 4 pancreatic cancer.
The beloved host was on stage in late July when the syndicated show began taping its fall season, and in August he announced that he had completed a round of chemotherapy.
In September, Trebek revealed he had to undergo chemotherapy again. Gaur said that Trebek had just shared that he was reentering treatment when he wrote the message.
"We were all hurting for him so badly," Gaur wrote on Twitter. "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."
Trebek has said he plans to continue working as long as he can.
