The clue is: He recently donated some of his game show winnings to a Chicago-area pancreatic cancer walk in Alex Trebek’s name.
The answer? “Jeopardy!” champion James Holzhauser, who recently won more than US$2 million during his 33-day run stint on the quiz show.
The organizer of the 2019 Naperville Pancreatic Cancer Research Walk told KLAS that the trivia champ sent her a donation of US$1,109.14.
The amount appears to be a reference to Holzhauser’s daughter’s birthday, which is on Nov. 9, 2014. The ‘Jeopardy!’ winner’s own father died of pancreatic cancer in 2010, according to the Chicago Tribune.
Holzhauser reportedly accompanied the donation with a message that refers to the “Jeopardy!” host: “For Alex Trebek and all the other survivors.”
The Canadian “Jeopardy!” host, who’s been the host of the syndicated TV program since it was revived in 1984, announced in March that he was battling stage four pancreatic cancer.
This past May, Trebek said he felt “tears of joy” when he was told his cancer was in “near remission.”
Ann Zediker, an employee for the cancer walk, told the Tribune that she had asked Holzhauser if he was interested in joining the campaign. She told the newspaper he declined but sent the donation instead.
The walk will raise funds for the Lustgarten Foundation for Pancreatic Cancer Research, which says it dedicates 100 per cent of the donations to pancreatic cancer research.
In his “Jeopardy!” run, Holzhauser won US$2,464,216 in total, but fell $56,484 short of the all-time winnings record set by Ken Jennings.
