'Jeopardy!' Champs Say They Won’t Cross Picket Line In Support Of The Show’s Writers

Marina Fang
Updated ·5 min read
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At least five recent
At least five recent

At least five recent "Jeopardy!" champions have announced they will not participate in the show’s annual Tournament of Champions in solidarity with the show’s writers, if the WGA strike continues into the fall.

At least seven recent “Jeopardy!” champions have announced they will not participate in the show’s annual Tournament of Champions in solidarity with the show’s writers, if the Writers Guild of America strike continues into the fall.

In a post on a popular Reddit forum about the show, “Jeopardy!” champion Ray Lalonde announced he has “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, who won 13 games in December and January, said he made his decision in response to “credible reports that the producers are 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 am and will always be grateful for the experience I had on the show and the opportunity to participate in the TOC is beyond a dream come true for me. That being said, 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.”

“My hope in saying this publicly now is to 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,” he wrote. “A few small voices may not change any minds but we can try.”

Lalonde, a Toronto-based scenic artist who has worked on film and TV sets, including on the Hulu series “The Handmaid’s Tale,” is a member of IATSE, a union representing many film and TV crew workers. 

In response to Lalonde’s post, four other recent “Jeopardy!” champions said they would join him in not crossing the WGA picket line for the Tournament of Champions. The show holds the tournament annually for champions who have won the most games that season.

“As I have already told Ray personally, though like all of us I am a huge Jeopardy fan and it was a dream to appear on the show, I fully agree with his stance and will not participate in any games comprised of recycled clues while the WGA strike is in effect,” wrote Cris Pannullo, who won 21 games, the most of any champion this season.

“Ray, thank you for taking this stand. If you are out, I am out,” fellow champion Ben Chan, who won nine games this season, wrote.

“I’ll stand with you, Ray! A TOC with all recycled clues doesn’t sound like much fun to play in, anyway,” Hannah Wilson, who won eight games, wrote.

Troy Meyer, who won six games, wrote: “I stand with Ray!”

The “Jeopardy!” champions’ accounts are verified by Reddit moderators.

Representatives for Sony Pictures Television, which produces the long-running game show, did not respond to a request for comment Monday about the contestants’ announcements, or about what the show plans to do if the strike continues, such as airing reruns or reusing old clues. As of now, the show’s new season is scheduled to premiere Sept. 11, and the Tournament of Champions typically airs in November.

On Monday, two more champions — Suresh Krishnan, who won six games, and Luigi de Guzman, who won five — posted in the Reddit forum that they, too, would not cross the picket line.

“The writers make the clues; the clues make the show,” de Guzman wrote. “The clues in the Tournament of Champions have typically been some of the best of the best clues the show has had to offer. They are at once challenging and creative. As Hannah said, a tournament with recycled clues won’t be much fun for us players — and it would probably not meet the high standard that fans at home have come to expect.”

“Jeopardy!” writers, who come up with the show’s signature clues and answers in the form of questions, are members of the Writers Guild of America West. Since May 2, film and TV writers in the WGA West and East have been on strike over issues such as equitable pay and working conditions in the streaming era. They’ve called attention to the existential challenges facing writers, such as barely getting paid in residuals when a show or movie is distributed on a streaming platform, as well as the need for protections around the use of artificial intelligence. (HuffPost’s unionized staff are also members of the WGA East.)

Writers and actors on strike on Monday in New York City.
Writers and actors on strike on Monday in New York City.

Writers and actors on strike on Monday in New York City.

Earlier this month, more than 160,000 actors represented by the Screen Actors Guild also went on strike over similar issues. The two simultaneous strikes have effectively shut down the entertainment industry until studio executives agree to a fair deal with each union.

The final episodes of the current “Jeopardy!” season were filmed in mid-May, shortly after the writers strike began. One of the show’s hosts, actor Mayim Bialik, reportedly declined to host the episodes in solidarity with the writers. The show’s other host, legendary champion Ken Jennings, faced a bevy of social media criticism when he stepped in to replace Bialik after her show of solidarity.

“Our words are on the screen every night,” “Jeopardy!” co-head writer Michele Loud told Variety while on the picket line in May. “There is no ‘Jeopardy!’ without writers. Without us, it’s just an empty blue screen.”

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