'Jeopardy!' contestant dies of cancer week before episode airs
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}A “Jeopardy!” episode airing next week has taken an emotional turn after one of its contestants, Cindy Stowell, died of cancer at the age of 41 on Monday.
Stowell, a science-content developer from Austin, Texas, taped the quiz show back in August, and the episode is set to premiere on Dec. 13, a “Jeopardy!” spokesperson confirmed. This marks the first posthumous airing of a contestant’s appearance.
“When Cindy Stowell taped her appearance on ‘Jeopardy!,’ she had Stage IV cancer. Competing on ‘Jeopardy!’ was a lifelong dream for Cindy, and we’re glad she was able to do so,” said host Alex Trebek in a statement provided to The Post. “Sadly, Cindy died on Dec. 5. All of us at ‘Jeopardy!’ offer our condolences and best wishes to her family and friends.”
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Her death and forthcoming “Jeopardy!” appearance was first announced on Twitter by her longtime boyfriend Jason Hess, who posted that “She was fighting a high-grade fever (which turned out to be a blood infection) and was on painkillers while taping.” Stowell competed with the goal of donating her prize winnings to cancer-related organizations.
“Cindy came on ‘Jeopardy!’ to play the game she loved and in doing so, she was able to make a contribution to cancer research in the hopes that no one else would have to go through what she did,” said Hess and her parents, Greg and Carole Stowell, in a joint statement.
Only Trebek and a select group of staffers knew that she was sick. Stowell, who had a Ph.D. in chemical engineering, first passed the online audition test in early 2016, and received an invitation to an in-person audition in Oklahoma City this past summer. She was able to tape three weeks after qualifying, when she informed a show producer that she had recently been told by her doctor that she had about six months to live.
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