By Dan Clarendon, New York Daily News
“Jeopardy!” fans may not see some usual suspects in next season’s Tournament of Champions.
As producers of the game show reportedly plan to recycle questions for the 2023–2024 season, former winners — including the four highest earners from last season — say they are declining invitations to the tournament out of solidarity with the WGA members on staff.
Ray LaLonde, a TV set builder who took home $388,400 in winnings last season, announced in the “Jeopardy!” Reddit forum that he would opt out of Season 40′s Tournament of Champions should the showdown be filmed during the strike. (The tournament is typically filmed in late August and September, according to The Hollywood Reporter.)
LaLonde prefaced his announcement by saying that he will always be grateful for his “Jeopardy!” experience and that the Tournament of Champions invitation is a dream come true.
“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.”
The Toronto-based trivia master said that he hopes his announcement 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.”
And speak out they did. Hannah Wilson, an eight-game champion who earned $231,801 on the show last season, replied, “I’ll stand with you, Ray! A TOC with all recycled clues doesn’t sound like much fun to play in, anyway.”
Cris Pannullo, a 21-time champion with winnings of $749,286 from Season 39, wrote, “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.”
And nine-time champion Ben Chan, who won $257,600 last season, commented, “Ray, thank you for taking this stand. If you are out, I am out.”
Other champs who have vowed to bow out of a struck Tournament of Champions include Troy Meyer, Ben Goldstein, Luigi de Guzman, and Suresh Krishnan, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The magazine adds that “The Mindy Project” actor Ike Barinholtz was also tapped for the tournament but will not participate in a struck production during the ongoing SAG-AFTRA strike.
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