Jeopardy!’s showrunner, Michael Davies, revealed that the sport present will transfer ahead with season 40 by reusing previous questions and former contestants amid the continued writers’ strike.
“I believe, principally, that it would not be fair to have new contestants making their first appearance on the Alex Trebek Stage, doing it with non-original material, or as we’ll talk about a combination of non-original material and material that was written pre-strike,” stated Davies on the Monday, August 7, episode of his “Inside Jeopardy!” podcast. “And so we decided that really we needed to invite back and give a second chance in general to players who probably thought that their chance to come back and play on the Alex Trebek Stage had gone forever.”
Davies went on to elucidate that the present would use “a combination of material” that Jeopardy!’s WGA writers created earlier than the strike occurred and combine in with questions from “multiple seasons of the show.”
Before the Writer’s Guild of America strike began in May, the present initially deliberate on doing its annual “Tournament of Champions.” However, a number of members — together with 13-time winner Ray LaLonde — introduced they might not take part to face in solidarity with the writers guild.
“I am a lifelong devoted fan of Jeopardy!. I am and will always be grateful for the experience I had on the show and the opportunity to participate in the [‘Tournament of Champions’] is beyond a dream come true for me,” LaLonde wrote by way of Reddit in July. “As a supporter of the trade union movement, a union member’s son and a proud union member myself, I have informed the show’s producers that if the strike remains unresolved I will not cross a picket line to play in the tournament of champions.”
As no progress has been made on the strike standing, the staff at Jeopardy! has determined to pause the plan for the match in the interim. Instead, season 40 will kick off with a “second chance tournament” for shedding contestants from season 37. The winners from that collection will transfer ahead to a “Champions Wild Card.”
Davies revealed that the “Tournament of Champions” will return as soon as the strike ends.
In addition to the brand new protocols for the upcoming season, Davies additionally introduced that the sport present’s prize fund for the runner-ups may also enhance by $1,000 every for the primary time in twenty years.
“The third place prize will move up to $2,000. The second place prize will move up to $3,000,” he acknowledged whereas noting the concept has been mentioned by followers and contestants. “This is something that we’ve been working on ever since I really took the reins of the show.”
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