The 'Jeopardy!' host called it a 'clue' that his time to retire might be near.
Alex Trebek is opening up about his Alzheimer's disease scare.
The Jeopardy! icon revealed in an interview with Vulture on Monday that he recently underwent a test for early onset Alzheimer's, after noticing that he couldn't remember facts with his usual speed. Trebek called the incident a "clue" that his time to retire might be near.
“I love doing crossword puzzles, and recently I’d be looking at a clue, it’d be 23 across, and I’d be trying to fit the answer into 26 across. I was always off,” he said. “Because of that I went to be tested for early Alzheimer’s.”
“The first time they tested me they said, ‘It doesn’t look good,’" Trebek recalled. “Then we did more testing and they said, ‘You’re OK. No need to worry.'"
The longtime game show host doesn't appear to be too concerned. “It’s natural. I’m 78. It’s not like this happened at 50,” he revealed. “When it’s clear that it’s time for me to go, I’ll go.”
Trebek, who has been hosting Jeopardy! since 1984, discussed his retirement more on an episode of OBJECTified in June, noting that the odds of him staying on the show after 2020 was "50/50 and a little less."
The host's Alzheimer's tests haven't been his only health scare this year. In January, he revealed that he underwent a surgery to remove blood clots on his brain, but has since recovered.
"Some of you may have heard that during the holiday break I had a slight medical problem," Trebek said in a video posted by the official Jeopardy! Twitter account at the time "A subdural hematoma, blood clots on the brain caused by a fall I endured about two months ago."
See more on Trebek in the video below.
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