Jeopardy! fans have yet another special event to look forward to. In January, producers announced the upcoming tournament Jeopardy! Masters, which will pit the cream of the quiz show crop against one another. When The Wrap first reported the news, few details were available about the upcoming series. But more information has emerged about Jeopardy! Masters in the last few weeks, including who will be playing in it and when it will air. Read on for everything we know so far about the new elite tournament.
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Ken Jennings will host the event.
Rodin Eckenroth/WireImageFormer Jeopardy! champion and one of the show's current hosts, Ken Jennings, has been announced as the host of Jeopardy! Masters. He's currently sharing hosting duties of regular Jeopardy! with actor Mayim Bialik. The Call Me Kat star has been hosting the show's High School Reunion Tournament since Feb. 20, leaving some fans wondering when Jennings will return.
However, producers clarified on an episode of the podcast Inside Jeopardy! that Jennings will be back to hosting the main Jeopardy! series after that special series concludes on March 9. As noted by The Wrap, Jennings' initial claim to fame is his 74-game run as a contestant back in 2004.
It will air in primetime.
Jeopardy!/YouTubeWhile ABC has yet to announce a premiere date for Jeopardy! Masters, TV Insider reports that executive producer Michael Davies revealed on Inside Jeopardy! that the tournament will consist of 10 one-hour specials to air on the network in primetime. Producer Sarah Foss added that each hour will be comprised of two half-hour games. The intention is for Jeopardy! Masters to be an annual event going forward.
"This is our Super Bowl," Davies said.
According to The U.S. Sun, the episodes begin filming on March 14 and 15.
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The six Masters contestants have been announced.
ABC/YouTubeThere's no mystery as to who will be involved in this new series. The show has announced the six Jeopardy! champions getting back behind their podiums on Jeopardy! Masters. Fans can look forward to Matt Amodio, Sam Buttrey, Andrew He, James Holzhauer, Mattea Roach, and Amy Schneider competing against each other.
Davies opened up about how the tournament would be structured and scored on Inside Jeopardy! As reported by TV Insider, he explained that each contestant will appear on every episode, and the tournament will be a "league-based system" and a "points-based system," in which rankings will be more important than money.
"This is really about wins," Davies said on the podcast. “And it’s about winning games. And we want to reward winning. There will be some bonus for finishing second, but it’s really about winning games."
Davies also explained how contestants will be chosen in the future.
Jeopardy!/YouTubeWhile this will be the first Jeopardy! Masters tournament, producers already know how they'll be choosing players for future years. Firstly, as Davies explained on the podcast, the three top contestants from this year's tournament will be automatically invited back. And the bottom three won't be out of luck entirely—they will have an opportunity to re-qualify through a couple of other venues.
"Qualifying for Jeopardy! Masters will be a combination of the [Tournament of Champions] winner from next year and a new tournament, which we have not scheduled yet, but we are committing to verbally today, which is the JIT, the Jeopardy! Invitational Tournament, where we will be inviting back past champions, past great players, players from previous seasons," Davies said. "The winner of which, and perhaps the second place finisher, will themselves qualify for Masters."
