'A huge dream for me': Yukoner remembers going on Jeopardy! and meeting Alex Trebek

Yukoner Brett Chandler first tried out for Jeopardy! in Calgary over two decades ago.

Though he didn't make it on the show then, he walked away with a smile after getting to meet Alex Trebek for the first time.

"When I got an autograph from him he wrote on the autograph, 'just tell them you were only one [contestant] off,'" Chandler recalled.

Trebek was the host of the popular U.S. quiz show Jeopardy! for more than three decades,and a former CBC broadcaster. Hedied at age 80, the show announced on Sunday.

Chandler is among many across the country mourning the Canadian icon.

He remembers when, inthe spring of 2007, the show held tryouts in Alaska. Chandler drove the nearly 1,000 kilometres from Whitehorse to Fairbanks to auditionand a month after, he got a call from a producer asking him to be on the show.

"I grew up in a trivia-focused kind of household, so Jeopardy! was always a huge dream for me. And when I got the opportunity to be on the show I was thrilled."

In July 2007, Chandler went to California to film the show, and hemet Trebeka second time.

"He was really happy to have a Yukon contestant on the show. I'm quite sure there hadn't been one at that point. I believe I'm the only one who ever appeared," Chandler said.

Chandler says on filming day, there were a lot of technical issuesbut Trebek kept a positive attitude and used humour to keep the audience entertained. And despite the distractions, Chandler ended up winning that episode, and leaving with $27,000.

Since being on the show, Chandler has stayed in touch with other former contestants. He has been in a Facebook group with them for over a decade.

"We've gotten to be really close, so as a community that loss really hit hard because you know, we felt like Alex was the guy who brought us all together."

In March 2019, Trebek announced in a video message that he had been diagnosed with Stage 4 pancreatic cancer, and vowedto "beat the low survival rate statistics for this disease."

Chandler said even though the community of contestants knew Trebekwas sick, his deathhas still been a big loss for all of them.

"We were all really with him in that fight and wishing the best for him. And we were really sorry to lose him however expected it might have been."