As ‘Jeopardy!’prepares to return to screens for the premiere of season 38, the show paid tribute to late host Alex Trebek. Trebek had been hosting the show since its premiere in syndication in 1984 until 2020, when he succumbed to pancreatic cancer.

The Los Angeles soundstage renamed itself in Trebek’s honour, ahead of the return of the new season on Monday. 

In a post shared by the show’s Twitter account, there’s a photograph of Trebek’s wife and three children standing alongside a smart plaque that read, “The Alex Trebek Stage.”

The photo was captioned “#TheGameContinues today with brand-new episodes of #Jeopardy! Don’t miss returning champ Matt Amodio and 2 challengers as they face off on the newly-dedicated Alex Trebek Stage.”

A statement on the show’s official website further read, “Formerly known simply as Stage 10, the set was officially renamed in honor of the late Mr. Trebek: he hosted more than 8,200 episodes of Jeopardy!, many of them from this stage.”

“The dedication ceremony—held on the first day of taping for Season 38—was emceed by Chairman and CEO of Sony Pictures Entertainment, Tony Vinciquerra.”

“Immediately after the ceremony, announcer Johnny Gilbert set the new season in motion as he once again introduced ‘…a PhD student from New Haven, CT, Matt Amodio,'” and went ahead mentioning the ‘Jeopardy’ champ on Monday. 

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Months after Trebek’s death, it was decided that Mike Richards would host the primetime evening show. However, he came under public scrutiny because of accusations that he discriminated against models during his time as a producer on The Price Is Right. While they did announce him as the new host, Richard stepped down nine days after.

In a statement, he said, “It pains me that these past incidents and comments have cast such a shadow on Jeopardy! as we look to start a new chapter.

“As I mentioned last week, I was deeply honored to be asked to host the syndicated show and was thrilled by the opportunity to expand my role.

“However, over the last several days it has become clear that moving forward as host would be too much of a distraction for our fans and not the right move for the show. As such, I will be stepping down as host effective immediately. As a result, we will be canceling production today.”