Jeopardy! host Alex Trebek’s tenure on the show is set to last through 2016, but a series of leaked emails from the Sony hack reveal that he recently threatened to quit after an incident during a Jeopardy! Kids taping.
These emails were published by Radar Online and begin with a producer, who included a letter written by a mother whose child was on the show. The young girl was not able to take part in the episode’s Final Jeopardy round and was “visibly upset,” the producer wrote. While the girl calmed down enough to see the next episode being taped, her mother was still angered by Trebek’s response.
“If he had taken the time, he would have known, like you do, that my daughter is not a sore loser, and does not become emotional solely over losing a game,” the mother wrote to the producers. “She was upset about not being able to completely play the game to the end. I don’t think I’ll ever forgive him for that.”
A producer decided that they should ask Trebek to re-tape a segment in the show “to appease an upset mother who could start another feeding frenzy about Alex’s perceived insensitivity.”
However, Trebek lashed out in an email, claiming that he has bent over backwards in the past to defend the show whenever something goes wrong for the past 30 years.
“But it doesn’t seem to operate both ways. When I’m vilified, corporate (and certainly legal) always seems to say ‘don’t say anything and it’ll blow over,’ and I’m not feeling support from the producers, and that disappoints the s**t out of me,” Trebek writes.
He concludes, “If I’m making mistakes and saying things you don’t like, maybe it’s time for me to move on. It’s not a threat, but I want to let you know how I’m feeling.”
Later, Jeopardy! executive producer Harry Friedman wrote that the host did calm down eventually.
Jeopardy! is produced by Sony Pictures Television and runs in syndication.
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