‘Jeopardy!’ Tournament of Champions 2022: Fans React After Spotting ‘Extra Players’

Martin Holmes August 18, 2022, 8:38 am

Jeopardy! fans are buzzing about the upcoming 2022 Tournament of Champions, which kicks off on October 31, and the excitement has only doubled with the revelation that extra players are in the mix.

The news comes after the Inside Jeopardy! podcast on August 15 revealed the line-up and format changes for this year’s champions competition. Following the announcement, former Jeopardy! contestant Emily Fiasco, who won three games and $87,000, took to Twitter to reveal she is an alternate for the Tournament of Champions.

“Now that Jeopardy has made the Tournament of Champions announcement, I’m allowed to say that I will be the alternate for this year’s TOC,” wrote the middle school band director from St. Louis. “Basically, Sony will fly me out, I’ll get to go through everything with all of the other contestants, except I will only get to play if someone else is sick or can’t make it for whatever reason.”

Now that Jeopardy has made the Tournament of Champions announcement, I’m allowed to say that I will be the alternate for this year’s TOC!

— Emily Fiasco (@emilyfiasco) August 16, 2022

There will be 21 past players involved in the champions tournament, including stand-out contestants Amy Schneider, Matt Amodio, and Mattea Roach, each of whom will receive byes to the semi-finals. However, with Fiasco revealing that she is an alternate, fans are now speculating about which other unannounced contestants could be on standby.

“The entertainment industry seems to still have very tight rules around COVID these days so I’d be shocked if they didn’t have multiple alternates given the chances of people testing positive leading up to their taping date,” wrote one fan on the Jeopardy! Reddit forum. “Hopefully we won’t lose any of the big names to a positive test.”

“Well obviously I wouldn’t wish ill on a contestant but I really want to see her again,” added another commenter.

Others, meanwhile, wondered who the other potential alternates might be. “The other alternate would likely be Yungsheng Wang, since he’s the next highest earning 3-game winner,” said one person. Wang appeared towards the end of Season 38, winning fans over with his bowtie and infectious energy.

Ken Jennings is set to host the 2022 Tournament of Champions.

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