In an interview with QTV, Alex Trebek recalled an instance where a contestant on Jeopardy! held a meeting with her friends and family to see her on the show, but the episode was replaced by a local program. Alex commented that it didn't matter to the contestant that she miserably wound up in third place, but she wanted to see that event that was significant to her. When the contestant complained, Alex apologized (despite having no control over the happening) and sent her a video tape of the episode so that she and her friends could watch it instead of the contestant losing that spotlight as the next episodes went on.
This is now SOP for Jeopardy!; if a contestant's local market has preempted the episode, a copy of the episode can be requested for free. (If the contestant wants a copy of an episode that did air, it's over $100.)
One particularly heartwarming case, the 1997 College Tournament winner Craig Barker recounts that two of his opponents started dating each other after the tournament, marrying years later.
A few years after their episodes aired, Karl Coryat and the four-time champion he defeated, Mary Hirschfeld, played a round of golf together.
Any time a contestant during an interview shares memories of watching Jeopardy! growing up with their family.
Specific Examples:
January 3, 1975: The final episode of the original run as hosted by Art Fleming ended with Art thanking the viewers, hoping to see them again, before walking off a dimming set with Charlie Chaplin's "Smile" playing over the end credits.
November 19, 1986: In the last semifinal game in the 1986 Tournament of Champions, Lionel Goldbart found the last Daily Double in Double Jeopardy, and decided to place a true Daily Double, getting it right... but forgetting to phrase it as a question, and thus, not qualifying for Final Jeopardy. In FJ, Paul Rouffa adds "Way to go Lionel" to his winning response.
January 1990: Frank Spangenberg surpassed the winnings cap of $75,000 and donated $27,597 to Gift of Love Hospice, a facility operated by the Missionaries of Charity. The money was used to bring the place up to fire code.
June 1996: After Karl Coryat lost, Alex Trebek said he was a "giant".
November 3, 2000: In Brad Rutter's final day in regular play, he wrote a thank you to his recently-deceased trivia bowl teacher under his Final Jeopardy score.
November 30, 2004: Ken Jennings hugging Nancy Zerg, the contestant who defeated him on his 75th appearance.
About a month after Hurricane Katrina hit in 2005, New Orleans native Deborah Slattery happened to be a contestant. Each of her three games was prefaced by an announcement from Alex that Deborah and her family were safe.
March 27, 2013: Challenger Tom Carroll appears on the show, having tried out for 37 years before being selected. And he wins $32,000.
December 5, 2013: Before the Double Jeopardy! round, Alex points out a man who proposed to his fiancée in the audience. She said yes.
Arthur Chu (2014). While many fans have expressed ire about his gameplay, Chu has done a couple of genuinely heartwarming things, which would arguably make him an Anti-Hero.
January 29, 2014: Arthur used his knowledge of wagering and intentionally bet for a first place tie of $26,800 to let his closest competitor walk away for the same amount (and to return the next day).
Arthur has openly stated that he plays to win, but also wants to win the money for his wife and for his sister.
Colby Burnett (2013) used his winnings to buy his mother (who had worked multiple jobs so that he could attend a good high school, and who had bought the encyclopedia set that started his love of learning) a house in the suburbs, so that she could move out of the dangerous neighborhood that Colby had grown up in.
December 2016: Contestant Cindy Stowell, who died of colon cancer before her seven-episode run aired, donating her winnings of $105,803 to cancer research. The producers, who knew she didn't have long to live, arranged for her to have the first available airdate after her audition, and sent her recordings of her games so she could see them.
After Alan Thicke passed away in December 2016, Alex Trebekpaid tribute to him, crediting him for helping find success in American television by hosting The Wizard of Odds, for which Thicke wrote the theme, and eventually led to this show.
November 2017: During the Tournament of Champions, Alex and all the contestants wore blue ribbons in tribute to Cindy Stowell, who would have participated in the tournament if she were still alive. The show also donated $10,000 (the amount given to contestants eliminated in the semifinals) to the Cancer Research Institute in her name.
November 17, 2017: After making himself infamous for his irreverent and cocky boasts at Alex in his Final Jeopardy responses whenever he had a runaway lead in his original run, Buzzy once again faces this situation in the finals in the Tournament of Champions, and for what might be his last response on the show altogether, responds, "LOVE YOU". He WON.
March 2019: Jeopardy! fans the world over send encouragement to Alex Trebek after he announces his diagnosis with Stage IV pancreatic cancer. Trebek responds with a personal video stating that he is thankful for all of the love and support he has received, and points out that even Watson sent him well wishes. He concludes the video with "I'm a lucky guy."
After taping for Season 35 wrapped in April 2019, Trebek posted another video, stating that he was still in good health, and that he should still be around to host Season 36.
In March 2020, Trebek posted another follow-up video for the first anniversary of the original, noting that he was now among the 18% of patients who had reached the one-year milestone following his diagnosis, and notes that the two-year survival rate is 7% but his oncologist told him he believed the two of them would be celebrating that milestone together in a year's time.
June 3, 2019: James Holzhauer leaving his podium to give Emma Boettcher a high five after she snaps his 32-game winning streak.
While he's definitely embraced the role of trash-talking Heel on the G.O.A.T. Tournament and his cocky attitude has won him some detractors, Holzhauer has also donated thousands to charities and uses events like watch parties to raise more.
October 8, 2019: Jessica Garsed rings in on a clue about Omaha Steaks, but she gives a response of "What is Omaha Steak?" She is initially ruled correct, but this gets overturned before Double Jeopardy! begins. Although this does not affect the outcome, Omaha Steaks reached out to her and donated the clue difference of $1,600 to a charity of her choice.
November 5, 2019: Gilbert Collins gives a statement to honor late Champion Larry Martin who died of pancreatic cancer. He also mentions Alex as he wishes the best for everyone who is dealing with the disease.
November 11, 2019: During the Tournament Of Champions Final Jeopardy, Dhruv Gaur wrote, "We love you, Alex!" as his answer. You could hear Alex's voice slightly break up as he thanks Dhruv. Also, James Holzhauer gives Dhruv a thumbs up.
January 14, 2020: Ken Jennings giving a look of awe and emotion as he goes over to accept his Greatest of All Time trophy. He even has to ask Alex twice if the trophy's for him.
Also in this episode, in a similar vein to Dhruv's example above, Brad, knowing he couldn't catch James or Ken in game 2, wrote down for his final Final Jeopardy response, "You're the best, Alex".
When the camera cut from James to Ken as the latter was declared the winner, he was away from his podium already, being embraced by Brad. Then he turned around and got a big hug from James, whom he congratulated on "a heck of a match."
September 14, 2020: The premiere of the 37th seasonnote and Alex’s last has the title sequence include images of Alex and his family as well as video clips of his hosting tenure.
November 5, 2020: Burt Thakur is elated to become the new champion. During the postgame chat, which is released online, Burt gets emotional as he tells Alex that he learned English growing up by watching the show with his grandfather. Burt also talks about this during the contestant interviews on the following show, the last episode to air before Trebek's death from pancreatic cancer.
November 9, 2020: The day after Alex Trebek's death from pancreatic cancer, executive producer Mike Richards started the show with this statement.
January 4, 2021: Alex's opening remarks on the Monday episode from his last week of taping before his death. Although the tone was clearly intended for the episode's original airdate of December 21, 2020, the message is no less clear.
Alex: You'll recall that about a month ago, I asked all of you to take a moment to give thanks for all of the blessings that you enjoy in your lives. Now, today, a different kind of message. This is the season of giving. I know you want to be generous with your family, your friends, your loved ones. But today I'd like you to go one step further: I'd like you to open up your hands and open up your heart to those who are still suffering because of COVID-19. People who are suffering through no fault of their own. We're trying to build a gentler, kinder society, and if we all pitch in just a little bit, we're gonna get there.
January 8, 2021: The final episode Alex taped ends with a montage of memorable moments in his tenure accompanied by Hugh Jackman's rendition of "Once Before I Go" from The Boy From Oz, concluding with a supercut of Alex telling the audience "So long, everybody.".
Fittingly, the final main game clue for Alex was an incorrect Daily Double response, prompting one final "ooh, sorreh" from his collection of phrases.
January 11, 2021: The first episode shot since Trebek’s death, guest host Ken Jennings’ opening monologue is a tribute to him. He also says “Thank you, Alex” to close the show, which he has done in every episode so far.
Since Alex's passing, every episode in Season 37 afterward has a dedication card for Alex after the credits.
Dedicated to Alex Trebek, forever in our hearts, always our inspiration
When Matt Amodio became the third-highest earning player in regular season play (on the game that aired August 12, 2021), he seemed absolutely awed. His grin only got bigger as the guest host (Joe Buck at the time) read out the names of the only people who'd earned more than he had: the legendary James Holzhauer and Ken Jennings. See for yourself.
Another heartwarming moment for Matt: his run began when Jeopardy! was matching players' winnings and donating them to a charity of the guest host's choice. Since he usually scores quite high (averaging above $30,000, and once going as high as $74,000), he raised a total of $574,801 for charity.
After Matt surpassed $1 million in total winnings, a person who'd been in the audience reported that he got a standing ovation. Due to COVID-19 restrictions, the audience was largely made up of people he'd beat during that taping day, a testament to Matt's Nice Guy status and the general good sportsmanship among Jeopardy contestants.
The Season 38 premiere opened with a video clip of the Sony Pictures Studios' Stage 10 (where Jeopardy! is taped) being renamed the Alex Trebek Stage. His wife, Jean, and three children, Matt, Emily, and Nicky, were present. From the second episode of Season 38 onward, the Opening Narration includes "From the Alex Trebek Stage at Sony Pictures Studios..."
Each variation of the Season 38 intro also includes clips of both Trebek and Art Fleming.
One of the contestants on the November 3, 2021 episode got his callback for a Jeopardy audition on the day he found out that his wife was going to be having twins. One of the twins ended up being named Alex.
The November 8, 2021 episode (which aired on the one-year anniversary of Trebek's passing) has a dedication card to Trebek at the end, different from the one that played at the end of all Season 37 episodes aired after his death.
Alex Trebek, July 22, 1940 - November 8, 2020: You are missed every day.
The March 18th, 2022 episode has contestant Debra reveal that she wrote a sweet limerick for both Ken and the late Alex that she then reads - it both lauds how well Ken is doing as host (and formerly as a contestant) and how missed Alex is. The audience warmly applauds her at the end.
April 5, 2022: Mattea Roach's response to realizing she's answered Final Jeopardy correctly and won the game is to say "My student loans are paid off!"
The May 5, 2022 episode featured 22-day champion Mattea Roach going into Final Jeopardy at a major disadvantage against challenger Sarah Snider (Mattea had $13,000 to Sarah's $22,600). When writing in Final Jeopardy, Mattea included the message "if this is it, thanks for the fun" after her guess. She got it right and won.
May 19, 2022: In the Overheard On Set post show, Ryan Long reveals that he's been wearing a beaded necklace made by his 8-year-old son as a good luck charm. This wound up being his 5th win, and he would go onto win 16 games and $300,400. It's safe to say that it worked.
October 26, 2022: During the last semifinal of Jeopardy! Second Chance, Rowan Ward (who previously competed on the August 13, 2021 episode under a different name) states in their contestant interview that they spent the winnings from their appearance on their name change filing, and stated that they were glad to reappear as their true self. They got a huge cheer from the audience.
Jeopardy! Masters Tournament:
May 9, 2023: At the end of regular play, James Holzhauer walked over and high-fived Matt Amodio once he got the final clue, leading the two into final Jeopardy tied. After Matt won the game, James seemed almost as happy as Matt did!
May 15, 2023: During the second game, Andrew He revealed that his son had been born between tapings. Andrew offered a very sincere thank you to the whole Jeopardy team, then to his partner for supporting him in his Jeopardy goals.
From the same game, James Holzhauer recalled watching the show with his grandmother when he was young.
After the tournament concluded with Mattea Roach nearly besting James Holzhauer despite losing their father during the tournament, James took to twitter to commend Mattea's performance, offering none of his usual snark as he called their work one of the best he'd seen.
November 7, 2023: During the Second Chance Tournament's first final, Jilana Cotter misread the clue and became visibly flustered afterwards. Another contestant, Aaron Craig, went over and gave her a hug.
Once before I go, I want you to know, that I’d do it all again...'
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