Ken Jennings Refused to Acknowledge the WGA Strike in ‘Jeopardy’ Season 40 Premiere 

By Radhamely De Leon
Published Sep. 12, 2023, 1:15 p.m. ET

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Jeopardy is officially back, though Season 40 is starting off a bit differently from previous seasons.

The new season of the game show returned Sept. 11 with a Second Chance Tournament, which allowed contestants from Season 37 to try for another chance at victory. Everything was business as usual as Ken Jennings launched into the episode with a detailed explanation of what the tournament would entail, but his introduction noticeably didn’t include any mention of the ongoing WGA strike.

“Welcome back to Season 40 of Jeopardy! We’ll be kicking off this year with a Second Chance competition,” he said, per TV Insider. “Over the next three weeks, we’ll be inviting back 27 contestants who probably thought they’d never be back here on the Alex Trebek Stage. Their first games may not have ended in victory, but their strong play showed us they are indeed worthy of a second chance.

“Each week, we’ll invite back nine contestants, who will play in three initial games, with the winners advancing to a two-game total point final. The champion there will advance to our first ever Champions Wildcard Tournament, later this fall,” he explained. “Good luck to all three of you.”

His failure to mention the strike at all is interesting considering the show has been seriously impacted by it. Jennings recently stepped in as a full-time host of the show after Mayim Bialik temporarily stepped away from her hosting duties in solidarity with writers. And Jeopardy may have continued taping, but they’re using recycled material that the writers wrote before the strike began. The Jeopardy writers have even picketed at the show’s studio in Culver City, California.

He recently caught some major flack from fans, who felt that he was crossing the picket line by continuing with the show despite the ongoing strike.

Though he has not publicly addressed the controversy, he did share the show’s official statement when a fan accused him of scabbing and told him, “Alex [Trebek] would NEVER do anything of the sort.”

The show’s official statement pointed out that Trebek did continue hosting through the 2007-2008 strike: “However, just as we did, led by Alex Trebek, during the 2007-2008 strike, we will deliver first-run episodes again this fall.”

The statement also shared that Season 40 will continue as planned, though with recycled material and returning contestants. The postseason content for Season 39 (the Tournament for Champions) has also been pushed back until the strike gets resolved.

This is why Season 40 is kicking off with a Second Chance Tournament. As explained by showrunner Michael Davies, “it would not be fair to have new contestants, 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.”

Jeopardy! airs on weeknights at 7/6c. Check the website for local listings.