Dhruv Gaur and his fellow contestants have found another way to make the host feel special.
Jeopardy! contestant Dhruv Gaur went viral this week after he gave up his Final Jeopardy answer to show host Alex Trebek that he is loved. Since then, Gaur has continued to support the beloved 79-year-old TV personality as he battles stage IV pancreatic cancer.
On Thursday's The Ellen DeGeneres Show, Gaur opens up about the moment and what he's done since to show he's there for Trebek.
Revealing that the Jeopardy! episode was actually taped in September, right after Trebek discovered he'd have to go in for a second round of chemotherapy, Gaur explains the circumstances that led to his touching Final Jeopardy response.
"He had come back to the green room and talked to all the contestants who were on the tournament, and we could really tell that it was tough for him," Gaur recalls of Trebek's disposition at the time. "So when I got up there, obviously I wasn't going to win the game or anything, so I was like, 'I could try to figure out the right answer, or I could do something for this person who might need it right now.'"
Gaur ended up writing, "We love you, Alex!" The sweet message led to Trebek getting choked up before he expressed his gratitude to Gaur. Needless to say, the moment quickly became a viral sensation.
"My mom texted me, 'You're trending on Twitter.' And I'm like, 'OK, mom, eight tweets isn't trending,'" Gaur quips. "And she's like, 'No really, check!'"
Noting that he wants to keep the good vibes toward Trebek going, Gaur and his fellow contestants have a plan to honor the legendary host as the tournament continues.
"Something that a lot of contestants on the tournament and I are going to be doing tonight and tomorrow night is during the finals of the Tournament of Champions that will be airing. We're going to be playing along at home and for every question that we get right, we're going to be donating a dollar to the Lustgarten Foundation to support Pancreatic Cancer research," Gaur reveals.
True to form, DeGeneres gifts Gaur with a 75-inch TV to watch the tournament and Shutterfly donates $25,000 to pancreatic cancer research.
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