‘Jeopardy!’ Contestant Whose Final Answer Almost Made Alex Trebek Cry Opens Up About the Moment

His answer on Jeopardy! went trending in a flash, but now Dhruv Gaur is speaking out about the moment that made iconic game show host Alex Trebek struggle to hold back some tears.

Dhruv appeared on The Ellen DeGeneres on Thursday, November, 14, to talk about his now famous “We love you Alex” response that made him lose $1,995, but gained him a ton of fans and support. “It was right after Alex had actually announced publicly that he was going to re-enter chemotherapy for his pancreatic cancer, and he had come back to the green room and talked to all of the contestants who were on the tournament,” Dhruv told the TV personality, 61, during his sit-down.

“We could really tell that like it was tough for him,” the young student said, adding that the episode was filmed in mid-September. “So you know when I got up there, like, obviously I wasn’t going to win the game or anything. So I was like, I could try to figure out the right answer or, you know, I could do something for this person who might need it right now.”

“That’s very kind of you,” Alex said on the episode when Dhruv’s response was revealed. This moment of course caught the attention of millions of people.

“I was at the launch party for this episode with my friends and my mom texted me and she was like, ‘You’re trending on Twitter,’ and I was like ‘Ok mom, eight tweets isn’t trending,’” Dhruv recalled. “Then she was like ‘No, really, check’ and ‘We love you Alex’ was like in the top 10 trending hashtags on Twitter.”

Dhruv also wants to make sure to take advantage of all this attention, as he will be doing all he can to reel in money for charity. “There’s been a lot of energy around this and kind of to keep that up, something that a lot of contestants and I on the tournament are gonna be doing tonight and tomorrow night is during the finals of the Tournament of Champions that will be airing,” he explained. “We’re going to be playing along at home, and for every question we get right we’re going to donate a dollar to the Lustgarten Foundation to support pancreatic cancer research.” So great!

Alex has continued to fight the disease, and Dr. Oz recently gave everyone an update on his friend’s condition. “He’s struggling with the different forms of chemotherapy that are being offered to him but I told him, and I do believe this, he’s soulful man who’s always been optimistic about life — keep his confidence,” he exclusively told Closer Weekly. “The longer he stays alive, the better able we are to catch up to his pancreatic cancer.”

“If you know Alex behind the scenes, he’s a golden hearted man who is able to give so much to so many people and the passion and the support you see on ‘Jeopardy!’ is what he does in person as well,” Dr. Oz added.