The night before the late Alex Trebek’s final episode as “Jeopardy!” host was to air, a new game show paid homage to the trivia giant on Thursday. (See the clip below.)
“The Chase,” a quiz show remake, premiered on ABC and host Sara Haines gave props to the man who holds the record for hosting the most episodes of the same game show.
“We at ABC felt it was only fitting that we dedicate this show to the memory of Alex Trebek, the beloved host of ‘Jeopardy!’ from 1984 until his recent passing,” Haines said at the start of “The Chase.”
“We all stand on the shoulders of his legacy and hope ‘The Chase’ will do him proud,” she continued. “What better way to honor his memory than to launch a show that stars ‘Jeopardy!’s’ greatest champions of all time? Ken Jennings, James Holzhauer and Brad Rutter as the Chasers. As Alex himself might say, ‘What is “The Chase”?’”
Jennings told Entertainment Tonight earlier this week that “The Chase” tribute “was just in recognition of the fact that the kind of people who watch this show are still gonna be feeling sad.”
Haines added that “The Chase” needed to recognize the circumstances surrounding the premiere.
“To know that the sad and tragic timing of when this show is coming out, the fact that these three men are kind of the center of it, and Alex sadly passes, I think it all was sad, but in some ways, was a passing torch or a baton of a beautiful moment where we get a spotlight,” she said.
Trebek died Nov. 8 at age 80 from pancreatic cancer. His last “Jeopardy!” episode, taped in late October, was to run Friday.
“The Chase” is the second American adaptation of the British show. Contestants in the first matched wits against one human encyclopedia, Mark Labbett, aka The Beast, as the Chaser. This one features the three former “Jeopardy!” stars as the Chasers.
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