Suzanne Somers' Husband Alan Hamel Had A Tight-Knit Friendship With Alex Trebek

TV legend Suzanne Somers passed away on October 15, 2023, at the age of 76. And despite many high-profile celebrity divorces — we're looking at you, Hugh Jackman and Kevin Costner — Somers and her husband, Alan Hamel, were still very much together at the time of her death. The two dated for nearly a decade after meeting on the set of "The Anniversary Game" in 1969, and they then got married in 1977. She told People that one of the ways that they kept their marriage strong was: "We give each other a lot of attention. We date at least three times a week."

They wouldn't always go out just by themselves on their dates. Hamel told Page Six that he and Somers would double date with his long-time friend Alex Trebek and his wife. While Somers and Hamel have had a long marriage, Hamel's friendship with Trebek was even longer. Both Trebek and Hamel were entertainers from Canada, and they met back in the 1960s. While Trebek became more of a household name as the longtime host of "Jeopardy," it was Hamel who actually helped Trebek get his showbiz break. After Trebek passed away in 2020, Hamel talked to Page Six about their friendship and how he recommended Trebek for what became Trebek's first-ever TV host gig.

Alan Hamel was a co-host of the Canadian children's show "Razzle Dazzle" in the 1960s when he filmed an episode of a new Canadian show — "Music Hop." Hamel told Page Six, "The network didn't pick it up, so I moved on and started doing a late-night show." So Hamel had moved on from the music show, but when it eventually did get the green light, he had a suggestion for the producers on who should replace him: "There's the kid in Ottawa, you should talk to him." And who would that kid in Ottawa be? None other than Alex Trebek.

Even though the two were in the same business and potentially competitors, they became and remained friends. Hamel talked about how the two of them had a Sunday morning ritual, barring any work commitments. "We would go to this old-fashioned Russian steam bath," Hamel said,  "[surrounded by] naked hairy Russian guys yelling at each other in Russian, and beating each other up." What a way to bond!

Even after both Alan Hamel and Alex Trebek moved to California for their respective careers, Hamel would still tease Trebek about growing up in Sudbury, Canada. "I joked that the reason he didn't spend his whole life in Sudbury was the awful smell from the mine," Hamel explained to Page Six. There was a rotten egg smell to the town, thanks to its copper and nickel mining that was prominent when Hamel and Trebek were growing up, and Hamel wouldn't let Trebek forget about it.

While Hamel may have joked about Trebek's hometown, at heart, the two were very close. Hamel described Trebek to the outlet as "a friend for life ... he was always there for you, and very loyal, wry, sardonic [and] very bright." After Trebek's death in 2020, Suzanne Somers posted on Instagram: "Alex Trebek, a wonderful man and a wonderful friend. My husband @therealalanhamel and Alex go back decades to their early years in television in Canada. We had the pleasure of being friends." Trebek was clearly missed by both Hamel and Somers. Our condolences go to Hamel with the death of his wife, Suzanne Somers, another person in his life that he lost to cancer.