Jeopardy! has been on the air for years at this point, and normally the saddest thing that we can say about the series is that at least two contestants lose the game every episode. An upcoming episode, however, will be a more somber affair. Reports this week have revealed that 41-year-old contestant Cindy Stowell, who filmed an episode back in August, has died. Her episode is still set to premiere this December, though. Her boyfriend shared this picture of Stowell with Alex Trebek.
When Cindy Stowell taped her episode of Jeopardy! earlier in 2016, she was already battling Stage IV cancer. Obviously the prognosis was not good, and even during the episode Stowell filmed she was in pretty bad shape. Her boyfriend, Jason, spoke out on Twitter to explain that she was even medicated while she was filming the episode, taking painkillers and fighting a fever that actually ended up being a blood infection.
Initially, Cindy Stowell may never have even made it to the Jeopardy! stage. She had always wanted to be on the show and passed the exam in early 2016. After qualifying for the show, she reportedly told a show producer that she had cancer and only had six months left to live. Over at Jeopardy, the producers seem to be empathetic people, and they helped to make her dream of appearing on the game show come true before she passed away. In fact, she was able to tape only three weeks after talking to the producer.
Per the New York Post, Jeopardy was a dream of Cindy's and the show was happy to help her to live out that dream on the small screen. Alex Trebek even had the following to say in a statement:
Competing on Jeopardy! was a lifelong dream for Cindy, and we're glad she was able to do so. Sadly, Cindy died on Dec. 5. All of us at Jeopardy! offer our condolences and best wishes to her family and friends.
Cindy Stowell's episode of Jeopardy! is set to hit the schedule next week, on December 13, just a short week after the 41-year-old science content writer passed away. While we don't know the outcome of the episode, we do know that no Jeopardy contestant leaves completely empty-handed, and whatever winnings Stowell ended up earning went to donate to cancer research. More info on the cancer research institute can be found here.
