Ken Jennings Named New Celebrity Jeopardy Host

Ken Jennings is taking over hosting duties for the second season of Celebrity Jeopardy!. According to Entertainment Weekly, Jennings will replace Mayim Bialik, who hosted the Jeopardy! spinoff during the show’s first season. Jennings and Bialik split hosting duties on Jeopardy! while Bialik served as the sole host for Celebrity Jeopardy!. Bialik has stepped away from hosting duties since May in solidarity with the striking Writers Guild of America (WGA), though Bialik is also a member of SAG-AFTRA, which has been on strike since July as well.

Celebrity Jeopardy! was renewed by ABC back in May along with Celebrity Wheel of Fortune. Season 2 of Celebrity Jeopardy! is expected to return with completely original material that was written prior to the WGA strike, though Season 40 of Jeopardy! will reportedly move forward with material written prior to the strike and material being reused from previous seasons. Thus far, the lineup for Season 2 of Celebrity Jeopardy! has not been announced.

Ken Jennings Responded to Remarks About Working During the Hollywood Strikes

Earlier this month, some fans called Jennings out for what they saw as Jennings crossing picket lines by continuing to host Jeopardy! amid the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes with some claiming it’s not something that the late, legendary host Alex Trebek would have done. On Twitter, however, Jennings replied simply by posting from the official Jeopardy! statement reminding fans that Trebek did host first-run episodes during the 2007-2008 WGA strike. Jennings is not a member of either WGA or SAG-AFTRA.

Jeopardy! Tournament of Champions Delayed

While Season 40 is going forward, not all Jeopardy! is. The show’s Tournament of Champions for Season 39 has officially been delayed in the wake of the WGA strike and several of the champions indicated that they would not participate in solidarity with the writers.

“Jeopardy! never had any intention of producing a Tournament of Champions for season 39 until the strike is resolved,” a statement from the company reads. “Further, no contestants from season 39 have been contacted regarding their availability for any postseason tournaments, including the TOC. The Jeopardy! postseason represents the pinnacle of our competition, and it should feature our strongest players playing our toughest original material.”

“Jeopardy! has a long history with and tremendous respect for the WGA and our writers. We have always been careful to honor our WGA agreements and we would never air game material not created by WGA writers,” the statement continued. “However, just as we did, led by Alex Trebek, during the 2007-2008 strike, we will deliver first-run episodes again this fall to more than 200 affiliate stations nationwide. Our current plan is to go into a holding pattern of sorts, pushing back the season 39 postseason to first produce original episodes featuring the best of our WGA written material.”

“Everyone at Jeopardy! hopes that the guilds and the AMPTP can reach a fair resolution quickly. Celebrity Jeopardy! will return on ABC this fall with original material written by WGA writers before the strike. Jeopardy! and Celebrity Jeopardy! are covered under the SAG-AFTRA Network Code, which remains in effect.”