‘Jeopardy!’ & ‘Wheel of Fortune’ Ratings Shock: Which Show Is Now on Top?

The ratings battle between America’s two most iconic game shows has seen a significant swing in viewership.

Jeopardy! is firmly back on top of the ratings war with its rival game show, Wheel of Fortune, despite the latter seeing a numbers boost last year when Ryan Seacrest took over as host.

According to Nielsen numbers cited by The U.S. Sun, Jeopardy!, hosted by Ken Jennings, has regained its spot as TV’s number one most-watched entertainment program, leading the week of March 3 to March 9 with 8,902,000 total viewers.

In comparison, Wheel of Fortune landed in the number two spot with 8,477,000 total viewers. Meanwhile, fellow game show Family Feud took up the third spot with 7,218,000 total viewers.

For the week of March 3 to 9, Jeopardy! aired its Invitational Tournament finals, which saw fan favorite Matt Amodio taking home his first tournament victory.

Jeopardy!‘s tournaments have done well in the ratings, with the Champions Wild Card Tournament also proving a success earlier this year. Between January 20 and January 26, Jeopardy! led the ratings chart with 8,430,000 total viewers, while Wheel wasn’t far behind with 8,111,000 total viewers.

The latest ratings come seven months after Seacrest made his debut as Wheel host, taking over from Pat Sajak, who retired in June 2024 after 41 seasons as host. Seacrest’s arrival saw a ratings boost for Wheel, which, between September 9 and October 6 2024, averaged 7.99 million viewers, making it the show’s best premiere month audience in three years and topping Jeopardy!.

Meanwhile, Jeopardy! is preparing for yet another tournament, with the third season of Jeopardy! Masters set to premiere in primetime on ABC on Wednesday, April 30. This year’s Masters is special as it features the return of Jeopardy! icon Brad Rutter to the Alex Trebek stage for the first time since 2020.

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Rutter will compete against last year’s Masters winner, Victoria Groce; 2025 Tournament of Champions winner, Neilesh Vinjamuri; 2025 Invitational Tournament champion Amodio; plus Yogesh Raut, Isaac Hirsch, Adriana Harmeyer, Roger Craig, and Juveria Zaheer.

However, one person missing from this year’s Masters is Jeopardy! legend James Holzhauer, who has chosen not to return. Holzhauer won the first edition of Masters in 2023 and finished as second runner-up in last year’s tournament, which guaranteed him a spot in the 2024 competition.

Jeopardy! Masters, Wednesday, starting April 30, ABC, next day on Hulu

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