‘Jeopardy!’ New Wildcard Tournament Gives Lisa Sriken & Yogesh Raut Another Chance

Martin Holmes April 4, 2023, 8:12 am

Yogesh Raut and Lisa Sriken on Jeopardy! — Jeopardy, Inc!

Some huge changes are coming for Jeopardy‘s Tournament of Champions as the annual competition is set to offer multiple second-chance opportunities to former contestants. And a new wildcard tournament means some familiar facers will be returning to the show.

The show’s executive producer Michael Davies and fellow producer Sarah Foss announced the news on the Inside Jeopardy! podcast, revealing that the 2023 tournament season will stretch over ten weeks beginning in September.

Things will kick off with a Second Chance tournament featuring non-winners from the currently airing Season 39. The winner(s) of this 2-3 week competition will then move on to a brand new wildcard tournament that feeds into the TOC.

Following the Second Chance tournament will be another 2-3 week competition called Champions Wildcard, which will invite back every one, two, or three-day champion from Season 39 for an opportunity to qualify for the TOC.

The TOC is usually reserved for Jeopardy! contestants who won four games or more during the regular season. Some of those who have already earned their spots include Cris Pannullo, Ray LaLonde, Troy Meyer, and Celebrity Jeopardy! winner Ike Barinholtz.

“Champions Wildcard will be a chance for any of our players who won at least one game to compete if they don’t already qualify for the TOC,” Foss said on the April 3 edition of Inside Jeopardy!

“That could be three-game winners, looking like it’ll definitely be four-game winners… not sure yet,” she continued. “But Second Chance won’t be an automatic drop into the TOC anymore. Second Chance will feed into Champions Wildcard.”

This new competition will give a chance for popular champions to return, such as recent champ Lisa Sriken, as well as the likes of Martha Bath, Lloyd Sy, Andy Tirrell, and Erin Portman. However, no one has yet accepted an invitation.

The feedback from fans so far has been mixed, especially as it means controversial players like 3-day champ Yogesh Raut, who publicly blasted the show, could now return.

“I am here for more Yogesh drama. Reeeaaally curious to see if he accepts,” wrote one fan on the Jeopardy! Reddit forum, while another responded, “There’s zero chance he doesn’t accept, in my view.”

“I’m kind of on the fence about this,” wrote another. “While I like many of the contestants from this tournament, I do feel like having so many chances to return after not winning your way in really takes away from the “jeopardy” of Jeopardy.”

“I love Michael Davies, I love his enthusiasm for Jeopardy!, and I think he’s done a great job of creating excitement and increasing Jeopardy’s popularity, but this is starting to feel like overkill,” added another. “This may be an unpopular opinion, but let’s cool it a bit with the tournaments and special events.”

“Enough already. I’ve had tournament fatigue for a while now,” said one viewer. “The high school reunion was not interesting to me since they were basically kids we saw recently. The masters tournament is basically adults we saw recently. The game is becoming less much-watch tv for me with these endless gimmicks.”

Others were more positive, with one fan writing, “As someone who jumped on the daily viewing bandwagon last year, I love this idea. I can see how long time viewers would not. But you can get so attached to someone that plays 1 or 2 games and this seems like fun closure.”

'Jeopardy!': Was That Final Jeopardy Too Tough?

“I think this is awesome,” said another. “Especially because even though we’ve had some strong automatic qualifiers for ToC (Cris, Ray, Troy), there seems to be more parity this season too…feels like a lot more 1 and 2 day champions. Really cool that they’ll get another chance to return!”

Responding to the feedback, Foss said, “I really want to encourage people to watch it all play out… I really think what you’re going to get, the gameplay, the level of competition, the excitement of when those few people advance to the TOC.”

“I think this is going to be great Jeopardy. I just want people to check it out, keep an open mind; I think we’ve got something really good in store.”

The 2023 TOC, which will have the same best-of-7 format as last year’s competition, will run for three weeks following the Champions Wildcard.

Jeopardy!, Weekdays, check local listings