The video: Jeopardy! host Alex Trebek shocked the audience at the National Geographic World Championship in San Francisco when he made his entrance to emcee the trivia contest on crutches. The 71-year-old Emmy winner explained that he had ruptured his Achilles tendon "chasing a burglar down the hall" of his hotel at 2:30 in the morning the night before. In an appearance Thursday on The Today Show, Trebek elaborated that he and his wife had been sleeping when he heard the robber in his hotel room. So, "I put on my underwear and ran down the hall" to catch the culprit. (Cue Matt Lauer's "Alex Trebek sleeps in the nude?" joke.) The "bizarre" incident is, understandably, inspiring a wealth of Jeopardy!-related humor.
The reaction: "I could make a million Jeopardy! jokes right now," says Sarah Anne Hughes at The Washington Post. But many other writers "graciously" beat her to the punch. Take it away, Bruna Nessif at E! Online, who says, "Answer: Winds up in the hospital. Question: What happens when Alex Trebek chases burglar?" "We'll take 'Crime-Fighting Super Heroes' for $200, Alex," says Glen Levy at TIME. And indeed, it's "startling" to discover that Trebek and his wife were robbed while sleeping, and even more impressive that he attempted to chase the criminal down. It certainly wouldn't be surprising if the incident soon becomes a trivia question of its own.
