'Jeopardy!' Unveils Touching Tribute to Alex Trebek as New Season Premieres

Late Jeopardy! host Alex Trebek was paid a special and touching tribute on Monday, ahead of the show returning to screens for its Season 38 premiere.

Trebek was a much-beloved fixture on the quiz show, hosting it from its premiere in syndication in 1984 until 2020, when he died following a battle with pancreatic cancer.

And ahead of the new season returning to screens on Monday, the Los Angeles soundstage where the show is taped was renamed in Trebek's honor.

A post shared on the Jeopardy! Twitter account showed the TV personality's wife, Jane, and three children, Matthew, Emily and Nicky, standing alongside a smart plaque emblazoned with the words, "The Alex Trebek Stage."

The heart-warming photo was captioned: "#TheGameContinues today with brand-new episodes of #Jeopardy! Don't miss returning champ Matt Amodio and 2 challengers as they face off on the newly-dedicated Alex Trebek Stage."

A statement on the show's website read: "Formerly known simply as Stage 10, the set was officially renamed in honor of the late Mr. Trebek: he hosted more than 8,200 episodes of Jeopardy!, many of them from this stage.

"The dedication ceremony—held on the first day of taping for Season 38—was emceed by Chairman and CEO of Sony Pictures Entertainment, Tony Vinciquerra."

"Immediately after the ceremony, announcer Johnny Gilbert set the new season in motion as he once again introduced '...a PhD student from New Haven, CT, Matt Amodio,'" the statement went on, mentioning the returning Jeopardy! champ.

On Monday's show, Yale student Amodio's phenomenal win streak continued, bringing his total to 19 games as victor.

Since Trebek's death, the road to a new permanent host as been a decidedly rocky one, with a months-long, star-studded search ended with the August announcement that Mike Richards would helm the primetime evening show, while Mayim Bialk would present specials and tournaments.

However, Richards faced public scrutiny, as reports resurfaced that he had been accused by multiple models of discriminating against them when during his stint as a producer on The Price Is Right.

Calls for Richards to step down intensified after an article by The Ringer detailed a series of offensive comments he had made on a podcast called The Randumb Show between 2013 and 2014.

On August 20—nine days after it was announced that Richards was the new host—it was revealed that Richards was stepping down from his role. It was also later revealed that he would no longer serve as executive producer of the show.

Richards was able to get a single day of filming five episodes under his belt before stepping down, with those instalments currently airing this week until The Big Bang Theory star Bialik takes over for three weeks. Following Bialik, another round of guest hosts will be rotated in as the search resumes for a new presenter.

In a statement at the time, Richards said of stepping down from his role as presenter: "It pains me that these past incidents and comments have cast such a shadow on Jeopardy! as we look to start a new chapter.

"As I mentioned last week, I was deeply honored to be asked to host the syndicated show and was thrilled by the opportunity to expand my role.

"However, over the last several days it has become clear that moving forward as host would be too much of a distraction for our fans and not the right move for the show. As such, I will be stepping down as host effective immediately. As a result, we will be canceling production today."