‘Jeopardy!’ Boss Announces Big Changes to Show in Season 40

Meaghan Darwish August 7, 2023, 2:00 pm

Ken Jennings and Mayim Bialik for 'Jeopardy!' — Jeopardy!, Inc.

Jeopardy! is keeping calm and carrying on amid the ongoing WGA strike which called into question the future of Season 40.

After just concluding Season 39, Jeopardy! showrunner Michael Davies is offering fans a silver lining for the latest chapter of the beloved game show as he revealed in a new episode of the Inside Jeopardy! podcast that Season 40 will go on with some necessary changes including recycled questions, returning players, and increased minimum winnings.

(Credit: Jeopardy!, Inc.)

During the podcast’s August 7 episode, Davies shared, “I believe, principally that it would not be fair to have new contestants.” He noted, “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. 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.”

In this instance, that will include contestants from Season 37 who lost their initial games, and winners from that will advance to a Season 37 and Season 38 Champions Wild Card. As fans will recall, Season 28 contestants already had their Second Chance Tournament previously.

'Jeopardy!' Summer TV Schedule & Season 40 Update

Following the strike, which currently has no end in sight, Davies made it clear, “We’ll head into our season 39 post-season.” This would include the Tournament of Champions. And so, the beginning of Season 40 will feature Season 37 and Season 38 contestants and the material used in the episodes will be “a combination of material that our WGA writers wrote before the strike,” Davies said, “which is still in the database and material that is being redeployed from multiple, multiple seasons of the show.”

Among other announcements made during the podcast was the fact that second-place and third-place prizes will be increased by $1,000. This means the game minimum for runner-up contestants is $2,000 which will be awarded to the third-place player, and second-place competitors will take home $3,000.

It’s unclear what the Season 40 plan is for hosting duties as Mayim Bialik took a step back to stand in solidarity with the striking WGA writers, while Ken Jennings finished out the season while facing pressure for the action. Will you be tuning into this alternative version of a typical Jeoaprdy! season? Let us know in the comments section, below.

Jeopardy!, Season 40 Premiere, TBA