‘Jeopardy!’ Winners Won’t Take Part In Tournament of Champions Due to Writers Strike

It seems that “Jeopardy!” has become the latest casualty of the writer’s strike, which started before the SAG-AFTRA actors strike that just started this month.

The writer’s strike has been going on for some time now and “Jeopardy!” writers have been involved in the strike. Although fans knew that the strike might impact the next season of “Jeopardy!”, many did not realize that the annual Tournament of Champions would also be affected.

It remains to be seen what producers plan to do about the annual Tournament of Champions, as several notable names are refusing to take part in the tournament until the strike ends. The Tournament of Champions usually tapes in late August and September, but as of right now, the “Jeopardy!” writers, who are part of the Writers Guild of America, will not return until a resolution is reached.

Although the show has 39 past seasons of previous clues to draw from, several notable contestants have revealed that they have been declining their invitations to join this year’s Tournament of Champions due to the writer’s strike, as per The Hollywood Reporter.

Ray Lalonde, a painter from Toronto who won almost $400,000 from thirteen games last season, took to an online forum to reveal that he would not be participating in this year’s Tournament of Champions because he did not want to cross the WGA picket lines.

“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,” he 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. A few small voices may not change any minds but we can try,” he added.

Other champions responded to his post or wrote on their own social media channels that they would also decline to take part in the tournament and stand in solidarity with “Jeopardy!” writers. They include Chris Pannullo, Hannah Wilson, Ben Chan, Troy Meyer, Ben Goldstein, Luigi de Guzman, and Suresh Krishnan, at the time of this writing.

“Celerity Jeopardy!” winner Ike Barinholtz was also scheduled to participate in the Tournament of Champions, but will also not participate since they are a WGA Member. It’s worth noting that Pannullo, Lalonde, Chan, and Wilson had the four highest total winners over the past season, and many fans were looking forward to their participation in the annual tournament.

Many fans who commented on Lalonde’s post don’t believe that the Tournament of Champions will actually tape with so few contestants participating. “The TOC pool is very limited and any absences will be missed, so they have a bit of leverage in this regard. There is no sense holding the tournament without a significant number of the top players,” one fan commented.

“I know Ray already saw this in the Facebook group but I want to mention it here too so Reddit sees it- if the strike does end up torpedoing the postseason (including the Champions Wild Card which I was ecstatic to qualify for but will certainly never cross the picket line for), maybe we can organize some kind of alternative online trivia contest/event with as many S39 champs as possible and somehow make it a fundraiser for the WGA,” another follower suggested.

Other fans suggested that it would be better for Sony to air old episodes of “Jeopardy!” instead of trying to tape new ones… at least until the strike is over.

On Tuesday night, "Jeopardy!" champion Amy Schneider announced that she was also standing in solidarity with the striking writers and the contestants who decided not to participate in the Tournament of Champions until the strike was over.

"Disappointed to hear that Jeopardy is considering this course of action," she tweeted. "For what it’s worth, I, too, will not be participating in any Jeopardy productions that don’t use new clues written by their amazing, unionized writers under a fair, collectively bargained contract."