‘Jeopardy!’ Fans Are Very Angry About Possible New Rule Change
For many, many years, the popular game show “Jeopardy!” existed without much change. Year after year, Alex Trebek was the host. The rules didn’t change. The game stayed the same. It continued to be popular.
Then, Trebek died, and the game show has been in the midst of change and outcry from unhappy fans ever since. Trebek is not possible to truly replace, but the show was determined to go on without him. The producers launched auditions where potential hosts and celebrity fans of the show would guest host for a week or two in order to see if they would be suitable replacement for Trebek.
The host search did not exist without drama. There was a successful petition to get Levar Burton on the show as a guest host, but in the end, the spot was given to one of the show’s executive producers, Mike Richards. That ended in scandal with Richards turning down the hosting position and getting fired from the show altogether.
Then Ken Jennings and Mayim Bialik took turns hosting the show for about a year before they were officially announced the official hosts of the show.
With the hosting decision done (and fans complaining every step of the way), it might be reasonable to think that drama surrounding the show might be over. No. Not one bit.
Now, there’s new drama surrounding “Jeopardy!” It has nothing to do with who’s hosting the show. This time the drama is around a potential change to the show’s rules leaving many fans wondering “Why?”
Executive producer Michael Davies wants to give contestants a way to win money on “Jeopardy!” that is separate from who wins the game. He wants to reward contestants with a cash bonus if they correctly answer every single clue in a category.
During an appearance on the “Inside Jeopardy!” podcast, Davies explained, “It might also give incentive to people who are trailing to try and go into a category and get something from the game beyond their second or third place prize.”
On Twitter, fans of “Jeopardy!” expressed outrage at the idea of the rules changing after all these years and brainstormed what this separate prize might look like.
Some fans had differing opinions about the idea of an advertiser sponsored prize.
If the contestant gets some tangible prize to take home, but not one that impacts the SCORE of the game, I’d be down.I also think it shouldn’t be worth much more than the total of the clues. For instance, a $35k car for $6k worth of correct responses seems like overkill to me.
— Jon Porobil (@JonPorobil) September 13, 2022
Other fans worry “Jeopardy!” is going to become “like ‘Wheel of Fortune.'”
No no no no no. No sponsor prizes no BS. Do not turn this game into #WheelofFortune
— Barbara Ann Rogers (@BRogersRE) September 13, 2022
Then there are the fans who clearly think changing the rules is a bad idea.
Why? I mean, why? Let me just say, why?Really – why?Why??There is nothing wrong with #Jeopardy!If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
— Tricia Navarro (@tricia) September 13, 2022
Do you think it’s a bad idea to add a prize to the show for contestants who get every clue right in one category?