JEOPARDY! has been taken to task for featuring the ‘same’ contestants in its upcoming tournament series.
Jeopardy! divided fans when it was announced that the first episodes of its upcoming tournament series would soon be filming.
Jeopardy! fans were divided when they learned about when and how the next batch of episodes in its tournament series would be filmedNBCThe upcoming ‘Jeopardy! Masters’ episodes are set to begin filming in MarchNBC
The first episodes of ‘Jeopardy! Masters’ are set to begin filming on March 14 and March 15.
Fans learned that the show, by way of On Camera Audiences, is currently accepting waitlist applications for audience members.
Some Jeopardy! fans were excited by this announcement and wanted to be a part of their favorite game show.
Others, however, were not happy with the implications for the show at large.
Many were frustrated by the fact that the ‘same’ contestants that have been competing recently would be a part of the tournament.
Contestants Matt Amodio, Sam Buttrey, Andrew He, James Holzhauer, Mattea Roach, and Amy Schneider would be participating in the tournament.
This lack of variety in new contestants didn’t sit right for many.
One fan wrote: “Maybe I’ll feel differently when it airs, but I am not hyped for this even after being suuuuper hyped for the ToC. But it basically being the same players facing off doesn’t excite me. We just saw that. Why aren’t there more contestants besides James from previous seasons?”
Another commented: “Totally agree. I think they thought they had to have Andrew and Sam on because they beat Matt and Mattea….. if that’s the case, just add more players then. I remember Alex Jacob said he wanted to take James on for example. Would’ve been cool to see those two go at it. Or Matt Jackson vs. Matt Amodio. A lot of potentially good matchups.”
A third fan continued: “We literally just saw Matt, Amy, Mattea, Sam, and Andrew, let’s take a break from featuring them again for a few seasons.”
Others took issue with the idea of there being “too many” tournaments.
“My issue is that it feels like there’s too many tournaments and other things going on now. We went from Second Chance to TOC to Celebrity Jeopardy to High School Reunion with very little break in between, it’s just too much.”
BIALIK BEATS
Meanwhile, host Mayim Bialik busted into a surprising rap verse on Friday’s High School Reunion Tournament episode.
The host dropped some bars from a song by Travis Scott, the ex and baby daddy of Kylie Jenner, of all people.
Mayim, 47, is hosting the 14-episode High School Reunion Tournament featuring 27 former Teen Tournament contestants who first went toe-to-toe in 2018 and 2019.
Isabella Pagano, a freshman at CalTech from Libertyville, Illinois, faced Ryan Presler, a senior at Brandon Valley High School from Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and Jackson Jones, a junior at Vanderbilt University from Louisville, Kentucky.
The eventual winner will get $100,000 and a slot in the 2023 Tournament of Champions.
Since the special features youngsters instead of regular Jeopardy! contestants the show has catered to the “fellow kids” with categories like “TikTok” and on tonight’s show: “Hits from Then and Now.”
The clue for $1000 was about Travis’ throwback song from when the student contestants first competed – and Mayim didn’t hold back when reciting it.
‘HE IN SICKO MODE’
She declared: “He rolled into 2019 with a hit tune featuring Drake, rapping ‘young la flame, he in Sicko Mode.”
Contestant Ryan got it correct as “Who is Travis Scott”.
And Mayim had to laugh at her own Alex Trebek-style all-in commitment to rapping the verse before moving on.
The wild category also included “Thank You, Next” by Ariana Grande, “All The Stars” by Kendrick Lamar, and SZA.
Whenever Jeopardy! does rap, it’s always a memorable moment; after Alex’s passing announcer Johnny Gilbert, 94, recently picked up the torch for a hilarious similar category.
The unexpected collab comes as Kylie has been in the news a bit lately.
She and Travis covertly broke up late last year and share their two children; Stormi, 5, and son Aire, 1.
Kylie has also made waves for her interesting feud with Selena Gomez, so what better time to toss the star into a Jeopardy! clue?
REMATCH ON THE BOARD?
Speaking of feuds, the possibility of a Teen Tournament rematch became a reality after Thursday.
Jackson, donning a buzz-worthy rainbow sweater, found all three Daily Doubles.
Although he missed one, he ran the board and going into Final Jeopardy he led with $16,200, Ryan with $11,000, and Isabella at $10,400.
Final Jeopardy under “The Ancient World” read: “The ancient writer Galen said books on ships arriving to this city’s port were seized, originals kept & copies returned.”
Jackson and Ryan were correct with “Alexandria,” with Jackson added $5,801 to advance to the semi-finals next week with $22,001.
Suddenly, the special has some stakes as Jackson originally lost to 2019 Teen Tournament winner Avi Gupta in the semi-finals in a heated tie-breaker.
Stanford Senior Avi advanced once more after winning on Tuesday, and “talking smack” to an opponent telling him “you’re not going to get rid of me that easy.”
The potential settling of the score wasn’t lost on fans as one wrote to Twitter: “Jackson Jones was inches away from advancing to the finals but lost on a tiebreaker to eventual 2019 Teen champ Avi Gupta.
So Jackson wins. Will he get a rematch against Avi? Only time will tell.”
Another simply asked: “I want to know where Jackson got that sweater.” And a third fan posted: “Let’s go Jackson!”
So far the semi-finalists which are Jackson, Avi, Brown freshman Justin Bolsen who became a fan-favorite with a bold Daily Double bet on Wednesday, and Maya Wright, a senior at Emory.
The quarter-finals will continue into next week as the students are dismissed until three remain.
Fans complained that they ‘just saw’ the contestants competing in the tournamentNBCThey asked for different contestants to compete in the name of varietyNBCOthers complained that there are ‘too many’ tournaments on the game showNBC
