Back in the Before Times, the Jeopardy! Greatest Of All Time Tournament was a ratings hit that saw Ken Jennings win the crown of best Jeopardy! player in show history. Now the three players involved in the trivia showdown might be joining a reboot of another game show.
According to Deadline, the three Jeopardy! GOAT contestants — Jennings, James Holzhauer, and Brad Rutter — are “in talks” to join a remake of a British game show called The Chase:
Ken Jennings, James Holzhauer and Brad Rutter are in talks to become “The Chasers” in the unscripted entertainment quiz.
Deadline understands that ABC won the project in a competitive situation and was able to leverage ABC talent to sweeten the deal.
The Chase is a show that pits three contestants against a master trivia expert, who then works to “chase” down the group’s prize fund before it can reach a bank by answering questions correctly. The Jeopardy GOAT Tournament was an exciting display of trivia knowledge, coming on the heels of Holzhauer’s record-setting performance on the syndicated show in 2019. But it wasn’t his first game show Holzhauer actually appeared on. He himself competed on the Game Show Network version of The Chase that aired from 2013-15, dominating The Beast to help win a $175,000 prize for his team. Two seasons of The Chase are on the streaming service Netflix, though Holzhauer’s episode wasn’t included. You can watch part of his performance on YouTube, though, and last year Ken Jennings was brought back by GSN to narrate some shows, including Holzhauer’s appearance.
As Deadline noted, ABC has looked for something to do with its three trivia aces, which delivered big ratings back in January:
ABC’s head of alternative Robert Mills told Deadline in January that he was keen to do more with the GOATs and wanted to find “something that taps into what these guys are.” “Whether it’s something with Jeopardy! or not, certainly I would argue these three guys are the biggest stars in primetime right now, he said. “But you can’t look at this and not acknowledge the impact that they have had over the 20 years and this past week without saying, ‘OK. How do we tap into it’.”
If the show does happen, it’s sure to get some attention. But without Alex Trebek at the helm, it will definitely have a different feel to the action.
[via Deadline]