While ABC airs Jeopardy!‘s primetime National College Championship, executive producer Michael Davies is revealing plans for a new tournament.
Davies acknowledges recent viewer upset over the current tournament structure. After it was realized that only one of the four semifinalists would not advance to the final, Davies noted, “It’s an imperfect solution that resulted from necessary changes to the original tournament format and the fixed number of hours we were committed to deliver.”
In lieu of the situation, he promises that the fourth-place finisher will return for the show’s postseason Second Chance Tournament that will precede the Tournament of Champions, with the purpose of taking competitors there.
(Credit: Jeopardy!, Inc.)
According to Davies, the Second Chance Tournament will “feed at least one player into the Tournament of Champions.” Currently, the eventual winner of the ongoing National College Championship will be permitted to compete in the Tournament of Champions, but the Second Chance Tournament will also provide equal opportunity to players who fell short by a small fraction in comparison to their fellow competitors.
No exact date for the Second Chance Tournament has been unveiled at this time, but Davies promises that it will be squeezed in before the Tournament of Champions in order to include the competitors in that tournament.
“I started thinking about a Second Chance Tournament almost the day I started on Jeopardy!, when Jessica Stephens beat Matt Amodio, but lost to Jonathan Fisher by just $401. I thought, ‘Wow, wouldn’t it be a cool idea to have a tournament where we bring excellent contestants like Jessica back?’” Davies shared. “Like most good ideas, it was quickly apparent that many, many other people — both inside and outside the show — had had exactly the same thought, long before me.”
More details about the tournament will be revealed at a later date, but expect it before the Tournament of Champions, and stay tuned to see which upcoming and present competitors will be a part of the fun.
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