While Jeopardy! has been slowly evolving since it first premiered in 1964, the format has stayed fixed. Players cycle through three rounds: Jeopardy!, Double Jeopardy!, and the Final Jeopardy! round. However, the new Celebrity Jeopardy! has introduced the first-ever Triple Jeopardy! round. Here’s how the new extra round works and why fans want it added to the regular show as well.
Mayim Bialik Christens New ‘Celebrity Jeopardy!’
On Sunday, audiences experienced the first round of the new Celebrity Jeopardy!. Of course, this is not the first Celebrity Jeopardy!, but never before has the show aired in a primetime slot. This means that each week, celebrities will compete for a full hour—counting commercials, of course—for large sums of money to be donated to their charity of choice.
Mayim Bialik hosts the new competition as part of her arrangement with the show. Fans will remember that Ken Jennings has assumed permanent hosting duties for the regular shows while Bialik presides over specialty competitions. For this new broadcast, Celebrity Jeopardy! will air three quarter-final rounds each month meant to single out a final celebrity competitor for the semi-final rounds. Once three champions rise from the three four-week cycles, they will progress to the final round scheduled for January 15.
However, in an interesting deviation from the usual format, producers have inserted an extra round into these new hour-long competitions. As an opportunity to win some extra cash for their charities, the celebrity competitors are taking a crack at a new Triple Jeopardy! board before progressing to the Final Jeopardy! round.
Fans Debate Over ‘Triple Jeopardy!’
The change to the show has incited debate among Jeopardy! fans. Some fans thought the extra round was just the ingredient that the show needed. As one fan pointed out, the extra round allowed more time for the contestants’ personalities to shine through. However, the overwhelming opinion from fans was that Triple Jeopardy! just made the show too long. Many fans saw straight through the show’s attempt to stretch the game for its full-hour time slot.
That isn’t to say that Celebrity Jeopardy! wasn’t a hit, though. The new format seems to please both casual viewers and die-hard fans alike. Even the Jeopardy! purists that reject the new Triple Jeopardy! round recognize that the new set and graphics were a welcome update that they’d like to see on the regular show.
It’s unlikely we’ll see these changes carry over to the normal show, but it is nice to see a show like Jeopardy! shake things up every now and then. Not to mention, as producers prepare to release a whole slew of spinoffs, it’s clear this 2.0 version of Celebrity Jeopardy! is just the beginning.
