The big reunion is here.
“Jeopardy!” giants Ken Jennings, James Holzhauer and Brad Rutter have teamed up for a new U.S. adaptation of the British trivia show “The Chase,” premiering Thursday night.
The game has the three trivia masters — known as “chasers” — facing off against contestants, trying their hardest to prevent the contestants from walking away with any money, the Deseret News previously reported.
“I think all of us bring our own spins to the thing,” Holzhauer told the Seattle Times during a recent Zoom interview. “Ken is a nicer guy than either Brad or I seem to be, and you get the sense that he feels really bad when he has to eliminate the contestants. I did not have this problem, shall we say.”
Only one “chaser” competes against the contestants each episode, but the show will sometimes cut backstage to Holzhauer and Rutter, who will offer the type of banter “Jeopardy!” fans came to love during the “Greatest of All Time” tournament, according to Entertainment Weekly.
“One of the interesting things about this is, we’re on the same team now, instead of playing against each other,” Rutter told Entertainment Weekly. “So of course we’ll still want to do better than the other two guys, but I was kind of rooting for them too.”
Season 1 of “The Chase” features nine hourlong episodes that cover a wide range of topics.
Hosted by Sarah Haines (“The View”), the show is part of ABC network’s efforts to move deeper into the game-show arena, according to Variety. Nearly 15 million viewers tuned in to ABC for each episode of the “Jeopardy! Greatest of All Time” tournament, putting it on a level with the 2019 NBA finals and the 2019 World Series, the Deseret News previously reported.
“I could not have been happier when I saw those ratings,” Jennings told the Deseret News earlier this year. “‘Jeopardy!’ and ABC were blown away by those numbers. I love that the show is such a stalwart. Tonight’s episode of ‘Jeopardy!’ almost down to the second will be the same as an episode of ‘Jeopardy!’ from 1995 or 1985. They got it right the first time. And there’s just not a lot that’s like that in our culture, that never dumbed down or sped up.”
Episodes of “The Chase” air Thursdays at 8 p.m. MT. Depending on location, viewers can also watch it live via Fubo TV, which offers a free trial, according to nj.com. Those who have a cable subscription can also watch “The Chase” the day after each episode airs on ABC.com.