Gameshow host extraordinaire, Alex Tribek suffered a “mild heart attack” but he didn’t even know it for sure and was not even considering going to the hospital — until — his wife started weeping, the host revealed.
The Jeopardy! host is back home after being hospitalized in Los Angeles on Saturday and he’s already up, around and talking.
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“I had been doing some work around the house working with a heavy ladder,” he said of his activity in the days leading up to his chest and back pain. “I just thought it was muscle strain.”
It was not until his wife started sobbing that he agreed to go get checked out.
“She was very adamant and had tears in her eyes,” says Trebek, who suffered a heart attack nearly five years ago. “I didn’t want to upset her more than I had already so I went – and she was right.”
Doctors found a blockage in one of the arteries that supplies blood to the heart, but no surgery has yet been scheduled.
“My body cleared the blockage itself,” says Trebek, who credits the aspirin he was taking for what he thought was simple muscle pain. “My heart seems to heal, so that speaks well for my future.”
Trebek said he plans to return to hosting Jeopardy! in July.
“I’m going to try and take it easy, but I have a lot of things to do around the house,” said Trebek, who was planning to attend a hardware tool sale later in the day. “I’m going to make sure someone helps me haul the stuff to my truck. I’m not going to do it myself. I’m not that dumb – yet, it’s just an attempt to get attention,” he joked. “[It had] almost as big an effect as when I shaved my mustache 12 years ago.”