It appears that Tuesday night at 2:30 am, a 56-year old woman broke into Alex Trebek’s hotel room and stole a bunch of his stuff. Trebek, who apparently sleeps in the nude, was awoken by the noise, put on underwear, and like any other 71-year old game show host, went to get his stuff back. In the meantime, the burglaress hid his stuff and when Trebek confronted her, she denied every having been in his room. But when he threatened to call security she started running, so he gave chase for a few yards until his right Achilles’ tendon ruptured. Security later caught the woman and even found most of his stuff, stuffed behind an ice machine. His cash was gone though, as was the only piece of jewelry he wears: a bracelet his mom gave him.

Lucinda Moyers, the alleged burglar

This of course prompted a lot of Jeopardy!-style jokes such as:

• “We’ll take ‘Crime-Fighting Super Heroes’ for $200, Alex. (Time Magazine)
• “If you think that was tough, you should see what Mr. Trebek does to the contestants who don’t phrase their responses in the form of a question.” (New York Times)
• “A: Alex Trebek. Q: Who is a badass?” (The Daily What)
• “LA to file charges against DJ party that turned violent. City had to deploy extra cops – but mostly because Alex Trebek wasn’t available.” (Towle Tompkins)
• “I knew, one day, my ‘Dont F**k with Trebek’ t-shirt would have meaning beyond irony” (Avrielle)
• “Alex Trebek tear achilles tryin’ to foil a crime….. ‘What is to old to be trying to be Batman’” (Steve Wilson)

Trebek and his crutches at the National Geographic World Championship

He was staying at the Marriott Maquis Hotel in San Francisco, because the next morning he was supposed to go to nearby Google headquarters to host the National Geographic World Championship — which he actually ended up doing despite of his injuries. In true Jeopardy! form, he explained what happened:

The answer is, at 2:30 yesterday morning, chasing a burglar down the hall at my San Francisco hotel until my Achilles tendon ruptured and I fell in an ignominious heap to the carpeting.

Then he went into more detail:

I woke up and saw a figure in our hotel bedroom and I thought I was dreaming. A moment later, I got up and saw that the door was being held open by a wad of tissue. I opened the door and saw a woman walking away, and I realized immediately that someone had been in the room.

He went after her, confronted her, and after she denied everything:

As I reached for the phone to call security, she bolted. She ran down the hall. I chased her. And I didn’t get more than 25 feet before my right Achilles tendon ruptured and I crashed to the ground.

And here’s an AP news video on the whole event:

Via AP, The New York Times, Washington Post, Fox News and The Daily Mail