A shocking surprise from behind the scenes of Jeopardy! Ken Jennings revealed for the first time the tearful gift that Alex Trebek’s wife gave him right before he officially sat in the legendary chair. It was not Alex, but the woman who had been his support who entrusted that sacred keepsake, as a message that transcended time. That moment made Ken choke up, the audience was shocked: Could this be the ‘key’ to help him inherit the immortal legacy that Trebek left behind?

Ken Jennings reflected on Alex Trebek‘s enduring legacy on the one-year anniversary of the beloved Jeopardy! host’s death.

Following a battle with pancreatic cancer, Trebek died on Nov. 8, 2020 at age 80. On Monday, Jeopardy! champion and interim host Jennings, 47, spoke about Trebek in a video posted on the game show’s official social media pages.

“I miss Alex a lot,” he begins in the clip. “When I’m in here I feel like he’s probably in the building somewhere. It’s hard not to talk about him in the present tense.”

Jennings also opens up about receiving a special gift from Trebek’s wife Jean before he began his first guest hosting stint in January.

“The first day I came in to guest host was just a few weeks after Alex passed and it was a really rough time,” he says. “I got to the studio and one of the producers handed me a little box, and Alex’s wife Jean had given me a pair of his cufflinks that he had worn on the show.”

He continues, “What a lovely gesture that was from Jean — at a time that was very hard for her family, dealing with a lot of grief and a lot of challenges.”

“She thought about Jeopardy! and she thought about me, a person she had never even met, and I just thought, what a lovely thing to do. She’s fantastic,” Jennings concludes. “My Alex Trebek cufflinks are the only cufflinks I own — they’re kind of a good luck charm for me here.”

Jennings and Big Bang Theory alum Mayim Bialik are currently splitting the Jeopardy! hosting duties through the end of 2021 while the show continues to search for a permanent host. The previously announced host, former executive producer Mike Richards, stepped down in August amid a series of scandals.

Alex Trebek.Eric McCandless via Getty Images

Bialik, 45, also posted a tribute to Trebek on Monday, sharing a message alongside an old photo of him.

“Remembering the passing of the great Alex Trebek a year ago today,” the actress and neuroscientist wrote. “Alex was a legendary entertainer, philanthropist, and lover of life. We miss you, Alex.”

Jean, meanwhile, posted a clip on Instagram promoting the Compassion Project, an organization she and Trebek had partnered with prior to his death.

“My beloved husband passed away one year ago… one of his final messages was that of the importance of having compassion for each other,” she captioned the post. “In honor of Alex’s beautiful and powerful life, please take a moment to watch this short video.”

In the video, filmed during one of the TV personality’s last days in the Jeopardy! studio, Trebek introduced the National Compassion Challenge, a program aimed at aiding teachers in “helping elementary students foster empathy and compassion for their classmates,” he said.