Things got emotional during Monday’s episode of Jeopardy!

Contestant Dhruv Gaur was stumped by the “Final Jeopardy” question. So he wrote a message to the ailing host instead. As Alex Trebek read “What is… We love you, Alex,” the 79-year-old got choked up and had to pause before going on to the next answer.

Alex, of course, was diagnosed earlier this year with stage 4 pancreatic cancer, and is currently undergoing a second round of chemo.