“Jeopardy!” host Alex Trebek is waging a public fight for his life against pancreatic cancer — but he hasn’t let it stop him from hyping the first-ever “Greatest Of All Time” tournament.
The 79-year-old game-show host dished to “Good Morning America” Tuesday about who he thinks will snag first place during the Jan. 7 showdown where the three best players in “Jeopardy!” history will compete.
“There are elements that favor each of the three guys,” Trebek tells ABC correspondent T.J. Holmes of the trio of champs, including James Holzhauer, Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter.
“James Holzhauer is of course more impressive right now because of his great appearance last year on the program,” Trebek says of the contestant, who won 32 games in a row and won $2.4 million. “But the other guys, don’t discount them. They didn’t win all that money by accident.”
Trebek, who announced he was diagnosed with stage 4 pancreatic cancer in March, says he hopes the tournament will last as long as possible.
“It may end in three days [but] I hope it goes seven days,” he says. “Because that will be the best of television, guys.”
The first player to win three matches will receive $1 million, while the two non-winners will each receive $250,000.
The moderator continues to keep an optimistic outlook on life, despite a tough prognosis. The median pancreatic cancer survival rate for stage 4 patients like Trebek is about a year, a surgical oncologist previously told The Post.
The “Jeopardy!” host of 36 years first revealed his illness in a video message.
“Now, normally the prognosis for this is not very encouraging, but I’m going to fight this,” he said. “I’m going to keep working and with the love and support from my family and friends and with the help of your prayers also, I plan to beat the low survival rate statistics for this disease.”
Trebek isn’t just battling for his own life, he’s also striving to raise awareness about the deadly illness. In October, he appeared in a PSA video in which he urged others not to brush off seemingly harmless symptoms that could be caused by pancreatic cancer, including mid-back pain, unexplained weight loss, new-onset diabetes and the yellowing of the skin or eyes.
Earlier that month, the beloved host admitted that his skills were starting to suffer due to chemotherapy.
“I will keep doing [the show] as long as my skills do not diminish — and they have started to diminish,” Trebek told Canadian news network CTV.
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