‘Jeopardy!’ Bosses Rocked by Ratings Disaster as Viewership Hits New Low
Jeopardy! bosses have been hit by a ratings crash for Celebrity Jeopardy! which hit a new low for last Wednesday’s (January 29) episode on ABC which was watched by fewer than 2 million viewers.
According to Nielsen ratings, the latest episode of the Celeb spinoff, featuring Roy Wood Jr., Brian Jordan Alvarez, and Phoebe Robinson, dropped to 1.84 million viewers and 0.20 in the key 18-49 demo, marking the show’s lowest rating since it debuted in 2022.
Wednesday’s episode was beaten in a head-to-head with CBS’ The Price Is Right At Night, which landed 2.95 million viewers and 0.27 in the 18-49 demo.
The latest Celebrity Jeopardy! numbers were down 40% from the previous week, which did 2.52 million viewers and 0.30 in the key demo, and were also over 40% off the show’s lead-in, Abbott Elementary, which reached a 0.34 demo (and 2.63 million viewers).
Overall, Celebrity Jeopardy! ranked in ninth place on the broadcast networks for the night, tied with Fox’s Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test. In also ranked the lowest of the four game shows on that night, including Hollywood Squares (.30), The Price is Right at Night (.27), and Raid the Cage (.20).
Viewers have taken to the Jeopardy! Reddit forum to discuss the falling ratings, with many offering their opinions on why the Celebrity edition of the long-running game show appears to be struggling.
Roy Wood Jr., Brian Jordan Alvarez, and Phoebe Robinson on Celebrity Jeopardy!; Disney/Christopher Willard
“The questions on CJ are insufferably easy. Sucks the fun out of it,” said one commenter.
“That’s the thing. For me, trying to answer the questions is 80% of the pleasure of watching. If the questions are “This city is the capital of France” then what’s the freaking point?” agreed another.
“No offense to them, but I didn’t know any of the CJ celebrities this week. That definitely doesn’t help,” added another fan.
“My wife and I call it “Unknown Celebrity Jeopardy,”” another quipped. “It is very likely that the pool of actual celebrities that would feel confident on Jeopardy is probably small.”
Celebrities that have appeared so far this season include the likes of Neil deGrasse Tyson, Seth Green, Rachel Brosnahan, Camilla Luddington, Margaret Cho, and Max Greenfield.
Another said, “I think yearly is too frequent for CJ. It should be an event.”
Celebrity Jeopardy! debuted on September 25, 2022, with Mayim Bialik serving as host. Season 2 premiered on September 27, 2023, with Ken Jennings taking over as host after Bialik stepped away in solidarity with the writers’ strike. Bialik was later let go as Jeopardy! host in December 2023, with Jennings becoming the permanent host for both the syndicated edition and specials.
Another Reddit user shared their thoughts, writing, “I may be in the minority here but I hate all the extra banter. Every now and then ok cool. But literally after everything nahhhh I’ll pass on watching it.”
“I am in this same group,” another responded. “I don’t idolize nor care about most celebrities. I don’t want to hear them make jokes and talk about their causes and achievements. I don’t care to see them play Jeopardy, poorly for the most part.”
“Well. Yeah. It sucks. The questions are insanely easy. The contestants are deathly afraid of Daily Doubles. And all they do is go one category at a time, in order. It’s painful to watch,” said one commenter.
Another added, “I think we have reached over saturation of the Jeopardy brand.”
“It was dumb to release Celebrity Jeopardy! and Pop Culture Jeopardy! at the same time. Save one or the other for summer when nothing else is going on,” said another.
Pop Culture! Jeopardy is currently airing on Prime Video, and fans seem to be enjoying it.
“That is what I enjoy about pop culture jeopardy. It feels that the questions are of similar difficulty as regular jeopardy just a different genre of questions,” wrote one Reddit user.
“I’m really enjoying pop culture jeopardy as well. Still some challenging questions,” added another.
Have you been watching Celebrity Jeopardy!? Is there too much Jeopardy!? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.
Celebrity Jeopardy!, Wednesdays, 9/8c, ABC
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Comments are closed on this story.
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Definitely not the host. These people are not celebrities that most folks know of or care about. And too much banter.
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Nobody wants to see Celebrity Jeopardy. A bunch of B list (at best) celebrities vying for who is the dumbest is not what Jeopardy fans tune in for
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Except on SNL.
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Dump CJ. It's too easy. 99% of the time I don't know who any of the contestants are. Maybe there will be one contestant I'll know. Also, to much silliness and banter. I've never seen pop culture jeopardy. I'm not subscribing to a streaming service to watch that. Stick with regular jeopardy. That's all we need. Don't change it.
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I don’t have a fondness for the concept of second chance Jeopardy players or celebrity Jeopardy..
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Too many tourments
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Bingo
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An hour for one game gets boring. Nobody wants to sit through triple Jeopardy.
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Agree. 30minutes. Won't clear the board, don't care. Need a Celebrity Host, not KJ. Let those who auditioned to be host get another go, as sine were quite good, like Aaron Rogers
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Aaron Rodgers? Seriously? He was god-awful.
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Their biggest mistake (other than hiring Ken Jennings) was leading people to believe the guest host shots were auditions for the job.
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The first celeb Jeopardy I watched was with Hasan Minhaj and he seemed so NEEDY I thought maybe the show was standing in for his therapist. Iliza Shlesinger wasn't far behind. I tried watching again when there are seemingly brighter, more grounded celebs on, but, as others have noted, the questions make it more like Jeopardy For Fourth Graders. The fear over Daily Doubles is infuriatingly frustrating.
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There will never be too much Jeopardy! in my opinion. In fact, the new highlight of my day is on GSN at 2 PM. Seeing Alex at the podium with his marker is just awesome (and Ken's streak is delightful). Even thouigh I've seen the episodes it still engages my mind in such a pleasant way. Celebrity Jeopardy is entertaining, they don't get to be celebrities unless they are in the limelight and this is a way to meet some that I've not seen in their regular gigs. Lighten up and just enjoy the camaraderie and gamesmanship as they benefit their charities.
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I think they should replace Ken. Not a good replacement for Alex. Neither was Mayim. The best would have been Thom McKee, a contestant on Tic Tac Dough with Wink Martindale. He won $312,700. I think he would have made a wonderful, caring host!!!!!
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I watched part of one episode of Celebrity Jeopardy and ditched it. "Contestants" are way too full of themselves and too much into trying to upstage Ken Jennings and each other. Boring.
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Ken Jennings is smarmy. Jeopardy needs an "entertainer" to host the show.
Being a Jeopardy champion is not enough.
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When CJ first aired a few years ago, it looked like celebs were trying to outdo each other with their cute one-upmanship. They overdid it. I enjoy watching my everyday JEOPARDY.
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Get back to the regular contestants. The present tournament of champions gos on forever.
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I am tired of all the Jeopardy championship contests. Just getting done for the almost champions to fill one spot for the next Tournament of Champions about to start.
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Drop the celebrities. Stop bringing back winners over and over. Keep it fresh with new people.
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Way too many tournaments. I enjoy the regular games. I will not watch tournaments that go on for weeks. I have been an avid Jeopardy fan for decades but am getting tired of so many of these tournaments. I will not watch them
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I like Ken Jennings as the host. I cannot think of anyone else who is more qualified than him. He has a good personality and a great knowledge of the game. The problem with Jeopardy isn't the host but the constant tournaments over and over again. I also agree with people talking about people who have lost out by just missing the 5 game status. There are enough 5 game winners out there. Agree about the celebrity Jeopardy also, it can go. It is way too easy and an insult to the celebrity contestants.
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Any actual broadcaster, and not some contestant, would be more qualified. Name one other game show hosted by a former contestant on the show.
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Too much tournament of Champions. We see the same people over and over.
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There are too many Jeopardy's. I don't care for second chance, JIT, or Celebrities. If you can't cut it the first time, like oh well!
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Stop having the same old freaks on over and over!
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That's why " Who wants to be a Millionaire?" tanked. It was on too many days and saturated the market.
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Too many playoff and Championship episodes! How many potential champs have been dismissed because second chance and fan favorites have been brought back.
It should be 5-time champions only! If that doesn't provide enough contestants, adjust the number down. Either way establish a standard and stick to it. Thems the rules!
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Used to admire Jennings, never again. Quit watching forever unless a new host with Jennings going away to wherever he'd send Trump. Bad choice!! Watch Jeopardy for years but never again.
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They are destroying what used to be entertaining and enjoyable. The never ending tournaments are dreadful. It was bad enough that we always had to hear the contestants share their little introduction stories ,about how they fell off their bike as a kid. But now, contestants seem more comfortable than ever to be sharing lame attempts at humor and excessive dialogue during game play. Then the lame questions about Pop culture , annoying before and after categories ,and the boring videos of entertainers reading off specific questions about some movie they stared in. Go back to the more serious, disciplined structure that made Jeopardy a great show….or continue to lose faithful fans.
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I don't think most Jeopardy fans are into celebrities that much.
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Well.. I went into a panic when I read the title about the ratings. Then, I realized it was for Celebrity Jeopardy. I only watched it once. Those people were clowning around. Waste of my time. I LOOOOVE JEOPARDY. I have watched it since 1981. I cried and prayed for our dear Alex Trebek. We now have The Best Replacement. Ken Jennings is a Natural. I absolutely love him, especially his dry sense of humor, and understated demeanor. Nowadays they decided to have too many Tournaments. I honestly don't like them as much. I just read in one of the comments about GSN at 2:00 PM with Kenny being the Host. Ohhh I am watching that!! IDK I don't watch Celebrity anyway 🙂
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Ken Jennings would kill anything he hosted! REPLACE HIM !!!
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Not true celebrities and bad at the game. BOR-ing.
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CJ is a joke. The contestants are not engaged intellectually, except Rachel and Margaret. The banter is not amusing. I LOVE Jeopardy, am a long time watcher (back to Art Fleming days) and will watch almost any Jeopardy brand shows. Unfortunately, the past several CJ shows I have flipped to another channel. Note: This is nothing against Ken, he must be aghast at the CJ contestants lack of common knowledge.
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I’ll be honest. I just don’t like Ken.
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I notice I'm not as involved or like the current run of (masters) contestants. the questions are weird and really esoteric.
I have actually skipped several episodes lately. a bit surprised I am not alone HOWEVER, I'm sorta enjoying Celebrity while pop culture just isn't my thing.
thanks for noticing
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I love the regular Jeopardy and also the host Ken Jennings
Get rid of Celebrity Jeopardy and the Pop Culrure Jeopardy.
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The show is too long. I much prefer the tried and true half hour format. The “celebrities” are only mildly entertaining.
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The so called “celebrities” are far short of well known, plus they don’t even seem to know how to play the game. Too much “nurse-maiding” by the host is needed making it less than entertaining! Skip it & stick to regular JEOPARDY.
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3 people I have never heard of. Maybe some actual CELEBRITIES
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Don’t care for Ken Jennings as host. Don’t know the celebrities and agree that the questions are way too easy. Stopped watching it. Even in regular jeopardy things need to change, including the host.
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When "Celebrity JEOPARDY!" used to run in syndication instead of as ABC "specials," the contestants were largely of a higher caliber—people who were well known and, for the most part, respected for their knowledge and overall integrity. Now, the show—and I'm saying this as someone who has loved JEOPARDY! since the Art Fleming days—brings on people who generally are not well-known and who usually don't understand how the clues are written or the game is played. They often seem to want to "act up," which is not what the game is about.
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The C-rate celebrities, the triple jeopardy, and all of the tweaking they’ve done is terrible. Ever since Sarah Fosse became EP, both Jeopardy’s went downhill. I’m still not a fan of Ken. Mike was good if not for the stupid millennial cancel brigade and how the faux audition was handled. What makes up for teams and everything needing to be a tournament, Colin Jost is actually a fantastic host!
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I stopped watching Jeopardy after Ken too over. It became very snobby and lacked inclusive.
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I'm 70 years old and have watched Jeopardy since it's inception. I was never the biggest fan of Alex and Ken has been a breath of fresh air!
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Get over yourself! Donald Trump is the GOAT and Ken Jennings can hold a candle to Alex T or DJT!
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Maybe the ratings drop could be attributed to the fact that Mr. Jennings thought it necessary to share his political views publicly, thereby alienating half the Jeopardy audience. Maybe? Anyway, I am anxiously awaiting the hiring of a new, non-politically biased host so that I can watch again. Was a daily watcher for 30 plus years until Mr. Jennings showed his true colors. Alex Trebek was so much friendlier, attractive and smooth. Jennings is book smart, for sure, but has no common sense.
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Jeopardy and their spin-off should be cancelled, entirely
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Too many game shows jeopardy competes against. Some of the categories are boring.
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I never knew about the GSN airing Alex episodes! I will be watching (or recording) every day, I still have Alex's last program as host on my DVR and I play it once in a while just to see his smile and to enjoy his engaging manner. Love Ken, too, but I will always wait for Johnny Gilbert to say "And now the host of Jeopardy......Alex Trebek."
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The show should end.. it's a disgrace to what the show once was
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I agree with most of what has been said. The same as Dancing with the Stars there is an enormous lack of “celebrity”!! Also, the banter and easy questions detract from the show. Do it well or don’t do it.
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Millionaire faded off when there were too many RERUNS of those celebrity editions.
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I truly dislike Ken. Instead of being a moderator, he tries to be the show. Ken is a tool bag. Greatly preferred Mayim if given the option of the two, but maybe neither is the solution. Also, I am very tired of these constant tournament of champions. I didn't care for most of them during their first runs and I dont want to watch them again and again and again. I watched at least 4 of 5 night and now I catch at most 1 episode a week
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I really liked the challenges of the past that brought us great long term players. One at a time shows are boring.
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Love Ken.
Do celeb jeopardy every other year.
Lighten up on all the tournaments, too.
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Move Pop Culture jeopardy to Primetime Network TV, not streaming only taking CJ place
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Ken Jennings must go! For us (long time viewers of Jeopardy), it's almost becomig an insult to Alex Trebek.
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I feel the whole Jeopardy games have come to an end.
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Don't care for Ken Jennings so Jeopardy lost me for a viewer on anything he might show up on.
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Celebrity Jeopardy needs celebrities and more challenging answers. I really really dislike Ken always saying FINAL instead of Final Jeopardy. Too lazy to say Final Jeopardy? I noticed Mayim did the same thing. Im not sure who started it but it irks me every time.
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CJ is a disrespectful mockery of Jeopardy, emphasizing cuteness and superficial entertainment.
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We do not watch Celebrity Jeopardy. Not lured by the celebrity status. Also seems that there are not enough contestants applying, thus having all the past contestants competing over and over in the championship rounds.
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Jeopardy! fans don't want to watch a bunch of "celebrities," the vast majority of whom would never qualify for the show if they weren't "celebrities," stumble their way through dumbed down answers. It's worse than "Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader?". I'm not surprised the ratings are in the tank.
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Don’t know any of the celebrities so has no interest for me
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I have watched this show si ce it's. Inception. As far as I am concerned, all the bad things that are happening in and around the world. Can be blamed by the fact that Donald Trump is back in the white house. The ones who put him there along with him, are responsible for all the rotten things that are happening. Don't go blaming Ken Jennings for the low rating, it goes with the territory, some times high, sometimes low. I realise that high is always better, that's life ( Donald Trump ) Ken is doing a great job, i am sure that Alex is proud of the job Ken is doing.( RIP Alex.)
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