Jeopardy! Pays Tribute To Alex Trebek, Producer Shares His Fulfilling Final Day

Before Monday’s episode, executive producer Mike Richards shared a brief tribute to Trebek, who hosted the treasured game show for more than 30 years.

“Over the weekend we lost our beloved host Alex Trebek. This is an enormous loss for our staff and crew, for his family and for his millions of fans,” Richards said. “He loved this show and everything it stood for.” “He will forever be an inspiration for his constant desire to learn, his kindness and for his love of his family,” Richards continued.

Richards said that Trebek had filmed his final episodes less than two weeks before his death, and that they would air the 35 episodes because “that’s what he wanted.” Trebek’s final episode is set to air on Christmas Day.

Richards also shared touching details about Trebek’s last day, revealing that he spent it exactly how he always wanted.

“He had a swing in his backyard that he loved,” Richards told Today’s Savannah Guthrie and Hoda Kotb on Monday, Nov. 9. “Even in his book he described that he wanted his final day to be sitting on his swing next to his wife Jean and kind of watching the horizon and he got to do that. He was coherent, he wasn’t in pain and the fact that he had a nice final day, I think makes all of us in the Jeopardy! family feel much better.”