Jeopardy! drops big news about the new Season and reveals whether new episodes and the winner's tournament will 'continue' or not

Jeopardy! drops major news about Season 40 and reveals if new episodes and winner’s tournament will ‘go on’

JEOPARDY! has announced that its next season will debut on September 11, and both regular episodes and Celebrity Jeopardy! will continue.

However, Fall’s Tournament of Champions will be postponed until the WGA strike is over amid pressure from famous champions to call it off.

Season 40 of Jeopardy! will air new episodes after its summer hiatus as scheduledCredit: Jeopardy!

The beloved game show will forge on by repackaging previously written materialCredit: ABC

However, Jeopardy! has postponed the annual Tournament of Champions until the strike endsCredit: Sony Pictures Entertainment

Season 39 of Jeopardy! ends on July 28, and the upcoming hallmark Season 40 was a completely open question.

Jeopardy! shared they will controversially air new episodes with questions that have previously aired during its long history.

A SONY rep said on Wednesday, according to TV Line: “Our current plan is to go into a holding pattern of sorts, pushing back the Season 39 postseason [or tournaments].”

Instead, they will: “first produce original episodes featuring the best of our WGA written material.

“Jeopardy! employs Writers Guild of America members, and the syndicated game show is planning to rely on material from prior seasons (39 years’ worth) as it begins taping shows for the 2023-24 season,” Sony noted.

“Next month, we will share more news about exciting plans and enhancements to the contestant experience for this upcoming season and beyond.”

TOURNAMENT DELAYED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE

The annual fan-favorites tournament is, however, being delayed indefinitely.

Several recent champions vowed to boycott the upcoming Tournament of Champions in solidarity with the ongoing WGA strike.

And Amy Schneider called the rumored move of using old questions “disappointing,” bowing out of future specials filmed during the strike and under these conditions.

“Disappointed to hear that Jeopardy! is considering this course of action,” she tweeted. “For what it’s worth, I, too, will not be participating in any Jeopardy productions that don’t use new clues written by their amazing, unionized writers under a fair, collectively bargained contract.”

“Jeopardy! never had any intention of producing a Tournament of Champions for season 39 until the strike is resolved,” Sony claimed.

Referring to the Tournament of Champions specifically, the spokesperson added it: “Represents the pinnacle of our competition, and it should feature our strongest players playing our toughest original material.”

“Jeopardy! has a long history with and tremendous respect for the WGA and our writers.

We have always been careful to honor our WGA agreements and we would never air game material not created by WGA writers,” the statement added.

One 2023 Tournament of Champions contestant exclusively told The U.S. Sun they didn’t get official word on the TOC before it was pushed back.

“I’ve received no information yet about the current timing of the ToC, or how the writer’s strike will affect the production.”

Ray Lalonde – who won 13 games this winter – claimed on Friday that Jeopardy! may cross the picket line by repurposing past material to film the annual tournament.

Ray- a Toronto-based scenic artist and union member- titled his Reddit message: “Starting The Season During The WGA Strike.”

“There are now credible reports that the producers are making contingency plans to start filming the next season of the show with old and/or recycled material if the WGA strike remains unresolved.

“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.”

Fan-fave Hannah Wilson replied on Reddit: “I’ll stand with you, Ray! A TOC with all recycled clues doesn’t sound like much fun to play in, anyway.”

Hannah, who won $229,801 this spring, also told The Washington Post. “I don’t want to be in a scab tournament.”

Ben Chan- who lost over a controversial Final Jeopardy typo- commented on Reddit: “Ray, thank you for taking this stand. If you are out, I am out.”

Cris Pannullo, the 21-day $748K poker ace, and far-and-wide ToC frontrunner, replied: “As I have already told Ray personally, I fully agree with his stance and will not participate in any games comprised of recycled clues while the WGA strike is in effect. Glad to see Hannah’s (edit: And Ben’s!) post here as well.”

Fans were not sure how the tournament could happen during the strike and if its top seeds were boycotting.

THE SHOW MUST GO ON

Nightly syndicated episodes will continue in September with the option the champs feared for the tournament.

“Just as we did, led by Alex Trebek, during the 2007-2008 strike, we will deliver first-run episodes again this fall to more than 200 affiliate stations nationwide,” the spokesperson continued, referencing the short period in which already aired clues were re-used.

“Everyone at Jeopardy! hopes that the guilds and the AMPTP can reach a fair resolution quickly.”

Filming is currently scheduled to begin on August 5.

Meanwhile, Sony confirmed that Celebrity Jeopardy! will return on ABC this fall: “with original material written by WGA writers before the strike.”

That still leaves the question of who will host.

Mayim Bialik, 47, stepped away from hosting the remainder of this season, and Ken Jennings, 49, has already been criticized as a so-called scab to wrap things up.

Ken would face tremendous scrutiny if he crossed the picket line again, but given Mayim’s prior stance, Ken’s hosting seems likely.

‘RECYCLED CLUES IT IS’

Fans are happy Jeopardy! will continue with nightly episodes this fall.

But many don’t like the implications of forging on by using old questions until the strike ends.

One wrote on Reddit: “Sony may have a contractual obligation with affiliates to provide new episodes, but it’s a bummer for players that it’s going to be this way.”

Another wrote: “Unfortunate but not surprising. I will also be boycotting the show until the strike is resolved.”

“So now it’s official. Recycled clues it is,” wrote a third.

“Damnit, just push the damn season back!! We don’t want recycled clues, we want actual writers that are paid fairly!!” wrote a fourth.

A fifth former contestant wrote on Twitter: “It would shock the average person how many old Jeopardy clues we have accidentally memorized by studying. Recycling clues becomes a memory contest, not trivia.”

“Our words are on the screen every night,” writer Michele Loud told Variety on the picket lines in May just days after the strike began. “There is no Jeopardy! without writers. Without us it’s just an empty blue screen.”

Regular episodes will begin airing in September with ‘recycled clues’ – a move which many fans don’t like because players can ‘memorize old questions’Credit: Jeopardy!