PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — The death of beloved "Jeopardy!" host Alex Trebek has fans mourning all over the world, and an area native who competed on the game show said that despite being a household name, when she met Trebek, he took her by surprise.
After years of being a "Jeopardy!" fan, Boyertown, Berks County native Kyle Webb got her big chance in 2015.
"I grew up loving trivia and always wanting to be on 'Jeopardy!', and I finally got the call," she said.
The veterinary clinical pathologist recalled Trebek's professionalism and cool on set.
"As nervous as I was to finally achieve what was a lifelong dream of appearing on Jeopardy, he makes you feel natural," she said. "Alex Trebek makes you feel at home on stage."
Webb walked away with over $46,000 as a 3-day champion. She said Trebek always had a joke or two, just for her.
"He was quite a funny guy and I will say, I did get some good-natured ribbing from him," she shared.
Related
She heard the news after she received several texts from friends, co-workers, and members of the "Jeopardy!" community.
"If I had to guess, I'd say it was about 30 texts, so I opened the first text and obviously, I was very, very sad to hear the news," she said.
Webb said the community is especially devastated by the news of Trebek's death, even though his pancreatic cancer diagnosis was widely known.
"We thought he might be that one person that would beat pancreatic cancer," she said, "because he had done so well for so long with a really aggressive disease."
The Jeopardy! champ called Trebek an unlikely superhero, and said the global impact of his death is immeasurable.
"Part of the collective mourning of the world is that we thought he was immortal," she remarked, adding that since his diagnosis, she and others who knew, spent time with, or just watched Trebek were just grateful for each moment.
"I feel like every day we got with him, we were lucky to have."