A former “Jeopardy!” contestant, and one of Alex Trebek’s final champions, passed away at the age of 24 last week, the program announced in a tweet.
“The JEOPARDY! Family is saddened by the tragic loss of Brayden Smith. He was kind, funny and absolutely brilliant. Our deepest condolences to Brayden’s family. He will be missed,” the tweet read.
According to his obituary, Smith was “Jeopardy!” Five times. champion who loved to play saxophone and listened to musicians like Duke Ellington and the Beach Boys. He has been praised on social media as ‘Alex’s Last Great Champion’ and is looking forward to taking part in the tournament for champions.
Trebek died in November at the age of 80 after struggling with stage 1 pancreatic cancer.
Smith, who graduated from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas in 2020, was scheduled to go to law school and work for the federal government, according to his obituary. He enjoyed reading about political science, philosophy, economics and history – topics that proved useful in his rise to trivia showed fame.
“I’m really grateful for everything, for all the opportunities I’ve had,” Smith said in a video the program posted on YouTube after Smith finished his five-game winning streak. “I’m just glad that … I was able to show what I was capable of.”
In the video, Smith praised Trebek for still appearing in the program despite his deteriorating health.
“Putting on a brave face and going there every day and continuing to give America and the world a good cheer … was proof of how great someone he was,” Smith said.