‘Jeopardy!’ has stopped taping new episodes to allow host Alex Trebek, 77, time to recover from brain surgery.
Trebek, who has hosted the trivia show for more than 33 years, was treated for blood clots on the brain — called a subdural hematoma — in late December after a fall in October.
He was admitted to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles on Dec. 15 and underwent surgery on Dec. 16.
“The prognosis is excellent, and I expect to be back in the studio taping more ‘Jeopardy!’ programs very, very soon!” he said in a video posted to the show’s official site Thursday.
Trebek downplayed the health scare as a “slight medical problem,” but it’s been said to be “among the deadliest of all head injuries,” according to the U.S. National Library of Medicine.
He’s had other public health scares: A heart attack in 2007 and another in 2012.
Trebek is expected to make a full and complete recovery and return to the ‘Jeopardy!’ studio for taping in mid-January, according to the program’s producer Sony Pictures Entertainment.
Since the trivia show is taped months in advance, there are plenty of new episodes that will air during Trebek’s recovery. The only change to the ‘Jeopardy!’ schedule will be a delay of the annual college championship, which will air in April rather than February.
