Double 'Jeopardy!' Why Recycling Questions and Players Is More 'Fair' to Potential Season 40 Contestants

Showrunner Michael Davies has revealed how the popular trivia show will forge ahead with its newest season amid the writers' strike

Jeopardy! is looking to the past as it plans its immediate future amid the ongoing Writers Guild of America (WGA) strike.

The popular trivia show plans to forge ahead with season 40 — but with several key changes. Showrunner Michael Davies revealed on the Inside Jeopardy! podcast Monday that the latest season will be modified.

Specifically, Davis explained that viewers will see not only recycled questions — but recycled contestants as well.

“I believe, principally, that it would not be fair to have new contestants,” he said, according to TVLine. “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."

Related: Everything to Know About the Hollywood Writers Guild Strike, Including the TV Shows and Movies Affected

He said the plan is for season 40 to kick off with a "second chance tournament" for players from season 37 who lost their initial game. Winners from that tournament will then advance to a season 37 and season 38 "Champions Wild Card" matchup.

When the writers' strike ends, “We’ll head into our season 39 post-season, which will culminate with the [Tournament of Champions],” Davies continued. “So episodes at the beginning of the season for the season 37 and season 38 contestants, the material that we’re gonna be using is a combination of material that our WGA writers wrote before the strike, which is still in the database and material that is being redeployed from multiple, multiple seasons of the show.”

Related: 'Jeopardy!' Delays Tournament of Champions After Past Winners Threaten Not to Return

To sweeten the pot, Jeopardy! will boost the prize winnings for the first time in more than 20 years. Davies said the show will be “increasing the second and third place prize amounts by a thousand each.”

“The third place prize will move up to $2,000. The second place prize will move up to $3,000. This is something that we’ve been working on ever since I really took the reins of the show," he explained, noting that it's a move that has been widely discussed within the show's social communities and among contestants.

Davies said the larger prizes should help would-be contestants cover their travel expenses. "We understand how complicated funding a trip to Jeopardy! is for many contestants within our community,” he added.

Related: Emmys 2023: ‘Jeopardy!’ Hosts Mayim Bialik and Ken Jennings Will Face Off in New Category

While those details have been ironed out, it's still unclear who will be hosting the show when season 40 kicks off on Sept. 11. Mayim Bialik walked off the set in May in a public expression of solidarity with the strike, and Ken Jennings stepped in to take her place for the remainder of season 39.

Former champions also have announced their intent to stand in solidarity with the strike. Former winners Ben Chan, Cris Pannullo, Hannah Wilson, Ray Lalonde and Troy Meyer — who were set to play in the trivia game show’s annual Tournament of Champions — recently announced they will not participate if the strike continues into the fall. (As a result, the Tournament of Champions was put on hold until the strike is resolved.)

In a post shared on Reddit last month, 13-time winner Lalonde revealed that the game show was already "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 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,” Lalonde wrote. “As a supporter of the trade union movement, a union member’s son and a proud union member myself, 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."

Lalonde added that he hopes that his public declaration of solidarity will "perhaps influence some future decision to proceed without the writers and to encourage any others in the community who feel the same way to speak out as well."

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Jeopardy! season 40 is slated to begin airing Sept. 11 on NBC.

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