“Jeopardy!” has a special plan in place for Election Day on Nov. 8 — which happens to fall on the second anniversary of Alex Trebek’s death.
“We are planning something really tremendous for Election Day,” “Jeopardy!” executive producer Michael Davies revealed in a recent episode of the podcast “Inside Jeopardy!” “I believe it may well break the internet as well.”
“Jeopardy!” producer Sarah Whitcomb Foss noted that the special episode will pay tribute to Trebek, who was the face of the beloved quiz show for 36 years and hosted right up until his death on Nov. 8, 2020.
“Overall we owe him a fantastic episode of ‘Jeopardy!’ on that day,” Davies said.
Will ‘Jeopardy!’ air on Election Day 2022
Popular shows that typically air on Tuesdays sometimes don’t air on election night as election coverage dominates the major networks. Two years ago, “Jeopardy!” was preempted in several areas due to the election, the Deseret News reported.
In 2020, the episode on election night featured contestant Devin Rossiter, a longtime “Jeopardy!” fan from Bakersfield, California, who loved the show so much that he used to have his parents pretend to be contestants while he played host, according to The Ringer.
“A lot of people who live locally are asking, ‘I know you can’t say how you did, but is there a way I can see you on the show?’” Rossiter told The Ringer. “The only thing I’ve been able to tell people is, well, you can watch on Nov. 4. And if I’m still there, you’ll know.” (He did in fact win the game on election night, and won the following game as well).
This year, “Jeopardy!” is breaking up the ongoing Tournament of Champions to have a special game featuring recent super-champions like 40-game winner Amy Schneider — who is second only behind Ken Jennings for most consecutive games won — 38-game champ Matt Amodio and Mattea Roach, the youngest super-champion in “Jeopardy!” history with 23 victories.
On Nov. 8, the three formidable contestants will face each other for the first time in a “friendly warmup game” ahead of the Tournament of Champions semifinals, the Deseret News reported.
The good news is that as an exhibition game, it will have no impact on the outcome of the ongoing Tournament of Champions, so viewers won’t miss any major updates if the show is preempted in their area.
“The bad news for those viewers is that this is a ‘Jeopardy!” game you really don’t want to miss. All three contestants are securely planted on the ‘Jeopardy!’ Leaderboard of Legends — Schneider and Amodio rank No. 2 and No. 3 for most consecutive games won in the show’s history, and only James Holzhauer separates Roach from Amodio,” the Deseret News reported.
But “Jeopardy!” will air the full episode on YouTube at 9 p.m. MST, according to the show’s Twitter account. The game will also honor its late host with a category titled “Remembering Alex Trebek.”