Celebrity Jeopardy! All Stars host Ken Jennings speaks onstage at the screening of “The Small Back Room” during the 2024 TCM Classic Film Festival on April 18, 2024 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Jerod Harris/Getty Images for TCM)
Celebrity Jeopardy! is back with a special twist in its new season, which premiered on Friday, March 13, 2026, at 7:00 pm ET on ABC.
The long-running quiz show is launching its All Stars edition, bringing back fan-favorite contestants from previous seasons.
The season features 21 returning celebrity contestants, who will compete for a charity of their own choice on the Alex Trebek stage.
Quarterfinal winners will eventually face the three previous champions: W. Kamau Bell, Lisa Ann Walter, and Ike Barinholtz for the Celebrity Jeopardy!: All Stars title.
In a recent interview with ABC News, Celebrity Jeopardy! host Ken Jennings, who is a jeopardy! legendary champion himself opened up about what fans can expect from the new season.
The 51-year-old quiz veteran spoke about the decision to bring back returning contestants, addressed whether the questions are easier for celebrities, and even predicted which types of stars might perform best in the game.
Ken Jennings opens up about Celebrity Jeopardy!: All Stars
Jennings said the decision to create an All Stars season was partly about bringing back familiar contestants that audiences already love.
However, he also pointed out that casting celebrity players can be more challenging than many people realize.
“It’s a little above my pay grade but I suspect it’s two things,” Jennings said. “One is that like we know these people, we love them, the audience loves them. Let’s have our favorites back. Let’s have Ray Romano back. Let’s have Cynthia Nixon back.”
He also explained that “Celebrity Jeopardy! is a little bit hard to cast,” as they have to cast people who want to “put it on the line because they love Jeopardy and/or their charity,” pointing out that there are disadvantages for a celebrity competing on Jeopardy!.
One of the most common questions fans ask about the celebrity edition of the show is whether the clues are easier than the regular version.
Jennings addressed that rumor directly and clarified that the game still maintains the core challenge of the original show.
“It’s not easy in the sense that SNL Celebrity Jeopardy made people think, you know, that this was dumbed down,” he said. “It’s still legitimate Jeopardy!. You still have to know stuff.”
However, he admitted that the show still wants contestants to succeed and avoid constant wrong answers.
“But just like every night on Jeopardy, we want people to be correct,” Jennings added. “You know, we don’t want a bunch of this going on. And they’re playing for charity, so we want them to look good.”
Jennings also shared a few celebrities he believes could be strong contestants if they ever joined the game, based mostly on “vibes.”
He then named some celebrities, adding,
“I think maybe Amy Poehler would be a good Celebrity Jeopardy player,” he said. “I bet Donald Glover would be a lights-out Celebrity Jeopardy player. And if I’m wrong, I don’t want to know. In my mind, those two are amazing at Celebrity Jeopardy.”
He also explained that comedians and news personalities often do well in the game because they are used to thinking quickly and responding on the spot.
“One thing I’ve noticed on Celebrity Jeopardy is that the comedians are very good because they have to think fast on the fly,” Jennings said. “And then the comedians who dabble in news like Roy Wood Jr. is amazing because he’s straddling that comedy and news thing.”
Jennings added that people who work in comedy-news roles might also excel at the game.
“So somebody like Colin, who does comedy news for a living, he might be very good,” he said.
Talking about the debate around whether celebrities actually have one advantage over civilians, Jennings said,
“All the celebrities have an advantage over civilians on Jeopardy, which is they’re comfortable on camera.”
For many first-time contestants, the biggest challenge is simply being on television.
“That’s often the hard part on any given night on Jeopardy is just you’re surrounded by — it’s your first time on TV, and you’re really getting dumped in on a very hard show,” Jennings said. “The celebrities are very comfortable with that.”
He believes the contestants who succeed the most are those who can think quickly under pressure.
“It’s the ones who are good at thinking on the fly,” he added. “I think news personalities would be good at this, comedians, sports commentators.”
Stay tuned for more updates.
