“The Best Of Both Worlds”: Regular Play & Tournament Play To Combine on Jeopardy!

In what is being billed as “the best of both worlds,” regular play and tournament play will be combined on Jeopardy!

18 new players will be a part of each 2.5-day taping cohort; all 18 players will play over 6 episodes to begin. From there, a “double elimination” bracket will take place, with 2 players advancing out of each block of 16 episodes to a season-ending Tournament of Champions, alongside a Celebrity winner (For the 2025 Tournament, this would be Lisa Ann Walter.) In calendar year 2024, this will mean that we see 10 16-episode tournament blocks, giving us the planned 160-episode regular play calendar.



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Thanks to each player not being eliminated until losing twice, this would mean that the “Second Chance” competition has seen its end. It has yet to be determined what the status of “Champions Wildcard” will be in 2025.

“This is the best possible combination we might see that both gives the excitement of tournament play for the fans who prefer that type of gameplay, alongside the fresh blood that fans have been clamoring for over the past few months,” said Andy Saunders, editor of thejeopardyfan.com. “Fans on Reddit have even been suggesting that the show move to double elimination, and this is a perfect outlet to do so.”

Winning players in each episode will receive their winnings in cash, while losing players will still receive $2,000 for third and $3,000 for second. 

Due to the first of these events starting in April 2024, the first “tournament” has been given the nickname “The April Fools Tournament.” Happy April 1!


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9 Comments on "“The Best Of Both Worlds”: Regular Play & Tournament Play To Combine on Jeopardy!"

  1. Christopher Denault | April 1, 2024 at 11:22 am |

    Don’t be giving Michael Davies any new tourney ideas here, or he’ll end up doing them! 😉

  2. Andy! Very interesting announcement on April Fools Day!!

  3. Jonathan Farley | April 1, 2024 at 12:23 pm |

    Good April Fool’s Day joke!

  4. aaronthecrystalclod | April 1, 2024 at 1:07 pm |

    Yep… exactly the type of confusing tournament system I’d imagine Michael Davies coming up with. Nice one Andy.

  5. Jim Cardillo | April 1, 2024 at 2:21 pm |

    I thought they had also added the option for a contestant to “tap out” and switch places with a “Wheel of Fortune” contestant. Cross-promotion seems to be a favorite of the producers.

  6. Ha ha. Almost plausible. You had me thinking!

  7. Nice. Not quite Sid Finch, but I like it!

  8. I may have been born at night, but I wasn’t born last night. Nice try. April Fool’s.

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