One Jeopardy! Tournament of Champions contestant opened up about the hard week she experienced where both her mother and Alex Trebek passed away just days apart. Sarah Jett Rayburn says her mom died shortly after Trebek died and recently, Jeopardy!ย guest host Buzzy Cohen expressed sadness over Rayburn’s loss on the show.
โThank you, Buzzy,โ she said. โYeah, it was a hard week and itโs been a hard time but I was so grateful for my time on โJeopardy!’โ The Tournament of Champions tradition has been part of the show that has been looked forward to since 1964 with original show host Art Fleming.
Sarah Jett Rayburn’s mom passed shortly after Alex Trebek
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Cohen has even opened up a bit on preparing for his guest-hosting stint, and it took a lot of serious preparation! โI prepared very intensely,โ he said. โLike a lot of people I hadnโt really been doing that much activity during the COVID-19 pandemic.โ He even admits he had to start working out regularly to “get his stamina up.”
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He continues, โI know how long these tape days are and how focused and attentive the host really needs to be… Youโre reading clues, youโre directing traffic, youโre refereeing, youโre giving color commentary. So youโve gotta be really focused and have your stamina up.โ
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Cohen acknowledges that Trebek was the most effortless host of Jeopardy. โI did a lot of work on that,โ Cohen says, referencing getting his stamina up. โAnd the โJeopardy!โ crew gave me a lot of help with my clue reading and all the other little things that look effortless when Alex Trebek would do it, but actually are really hard to do.โ
The tournament winnerย will take home a $250,000 grand prize.
Watch the exchange between Cohen and Rayburn on the dual passings below:
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