Jeopardy Season 40 Goes Green: Thrilling Recycled Clues and Contestants Await Amid WGA Strike!

CBS

According to Michael Davies, the showrunner of Jeopardy!, the game show will proceed with season 40 despite the current writers' strike by recycling previous questions and featuring former contestants.

"I strongly believe that it would be unfair for new contestants to make their first appearance on the Alex Trebek Stage using non-original material, or a combination of non-original material and material written before the strike," stated Davies on his "Inside Jeopardy!" podcast episode on Monday, August 7th. "Therefore, we have decided to give a second chance to players who might have thought that their opportunity to play on the Alex Trebek Stage was lost forever."

Davies further explained that the show will incorporate a blend of material, including questions from multiple seasons of the show, as well as pre-strike content created by Jeopardy!'s WGA writers.

The show had initially planned to hold its annual "Tournament of Champions" before the Writer's Guild of America strike began in May. However, several participants, including Ray LaLonde, a 13-time winner, announced their decision not to take part in solidarity with the writers guild. LaLonde expressed his gratitude and lifelong fandom of Jeopardy!, stating that participating in the tournament was a dream come true for him. Nevertheless, as a supporter of the trade union movement and a union member himself, he made it clear that he would not cross a picket line to play in the tournament if the strike remained unresolved.

No progress has been made on the strike, so the Jeopardy! team has decided to temporarily suspend the tournament plan. Season 40 will now commence with a "second chance tournament" for previous losing contestants from season 37. The winners from this tournament will advance to the "Champions Wild Card" round. Davies also announced that the "Tournament of Champions" will make a comeback once the strike concludes.

Davies also revealed that, alongside the new protocols established for the upcoming season, the prize money for the runners-up in the game show will experience a long-awaited increase of $1,000 each. This change marks the first time in twenty years that the second and third place prizes have been adjusted.

“The third place prize will now be $2,000, while the second place prize will be $3,000,” he declared. It is worth mentioning that this decision was the result of suggestions put forth by both fans and contestants. "Since I assumed control of the show, this has been an endeavor that we have been tirelessly working on."