Over the weekend, several Jeopardy! champions announced their intentions to sit out the Tournament Of Champions in support of the WGA strike. “I believe that the show’s writers are a vital part of the show, and they are justified in taking their job action to secure a fair contract for themselves and their fellow WGA members,” wrote 13-time winner Ray Lalonde on Reddit. “If the strike remains unresolved, I will not cross a picket line to play in the Tournament Of Champions.” However, it now seems like the Tournament was going to be delayed anyway. In a statement to TVLine, a Sony Pictures Television representative said they “had no intention” of moving forward with the tournament “until the strike is resolved” and that “no contestants have been contacted” regarding availability for post-season shows.
“The Jeopardy! post-season represents the pinnacle of our competition,” they said, “and it should feature our strongest players playing our toughest original material.”
While it might be a relief to the union-supporting champions of the past, new contestants will get recycled questions. “We have always been careful to honor our WGA agreements, and we would never air game material not created by WGA writers,” the representative said. “However, just as we did, led by Alex Trebek, during the 2007–2008 strike, we will deliver first-run episodes again this fall, featuring the best of our WGA written material.”
That is some impressive spin. The show is embracing the criticism against Jeopardy! and framing it as a win. Not to mention invoking the show’s late host while doing so. Ray Lalonde stated against appearing on the show because they would be using questions from striking workers. But Jeopardy! chalks that up to a misunderstanding while doubling down on the procedures contestants were offended by. The show still uses the work of writers who don’t have a fair contract, which is the point of the strike.
Last week, in a poll on the Jeopardy! subreddit, Redditors overwhelmingly voted against the show using recycled material, calling it “just a way to make money at the expense of the writers.”
