Jeopardy announcer Johnny Gilbert reveals the production team has been ‘in a fog’

Nearly two months after his passing, the death of Alex Trebek has still had a profound effect on the production team on Jeopardy, according to longtime announcer Johnny Gilbert.

Gilbert, 96, who has been the voice of Jeopardy since it relaunched with Trebek as its host in 1984, told People that everyone has been ‘in a fog’ since his death on November 8, at 80 years of age.

It was also announced on Monday that Trebek’s final five episodes will not air this week as originally planned, but instead airing from Monday, January 4 to Friday, January 8.  

When asked how the production team has been dealing with the host’s death, Gilbert said it’s affecting them still. 

‘Everybody’s walking around in a little bit of a fog, shaken from the whole thing. Part of me left here when Alex left, really,’ Gilbert said.

‘Jeopardy has always been my life. I got married [to wife Sharee] right after the show went on the air, so our life together and the show’s life are all bundled into one,’ he added.

Gilbert and Trebek were also golfing buddies away from work, with Gilbert also recalling the first time he met the host, at an industry convention just before their show debuted.

‘I noticed that he wasn’t the usual big-smiley-face emcee. He was quiet and listening to everybody and everything,’ Gilbert added

Jeopardy originally aired as a daytime game show between 1964 and 1975, though it was Trebek’s daily syndicated show that truly made it a TV institution.

Gilbert added that, throughout the years, Trebek, ‘was always the same person,’ adding he was, ‘very introspective, he read a tremendous amount and traveled a lot. He was always doing crossword puzzles to keep his mind active.’

The announcer added he would always tell young people in the audience, ”You’ve got to read, you have to learn. That’s the way you’re going to succeed.’

During commercial breaks, Trebek would field questions from the 250 audience members at each taping, many of which were quite ‘silly.’

‘One gal asked him, “Boxers or briefs?” Alex took a beat and said, “Thongs!” I told him a long time ago, “If this show goes away, you could be a stand-up comedian.” He always loved to do jokes,’ Gilbert said.

Jeopardy announced last week that the final two weeks of 2020 will feature 10 episodes that ‘celebrate Alex Trebek’s spirit of adventure when the show highlights some of the best categories he’s presented around the world.’

Those episodes will begin airing Monday, December 21 through Friday, December 25, and continue on Monday, December 28 through Friday, January 1.

Trebek’s final five episodes will then air from Monday, January 4 through Friday, January 8. 

After Trebek’s final episodes have aired, Jeopardy champ Ken Jennings will take over as one of the new interim hosts, starting January 11, with Gilbert offering some advice to Jennings and anyone else who takes over as host.

‘Jeopardy! is a very special game. All that information that he gave out, aside from what was actually on the show, was in his mind,’ Gilbert said. 

‘Somebody has to be able to handle that. If the person lets the show be the show, it will be fine,’ he added.