Fans Have Ideas About How To Improve Celebrity Jeopardy, And I Definitely Agree With A Few Of These

Spoiler alert! This story reveals the winner of Celebrity Jeopardy! Season 3, which aired April 23. Episodes are available to stream with a Hulu subscription if you haven’t watched.

Another season of Celebrity Jeopardy! has wrapped on the 2025 TV schedule, and there were definitely some fun times to be had watching (mostly) familiar faces answer decidedly less-difficult trivia questions. While fans of one of the greatest game shows ever can probably agree that the $1 million donation to the winner’s charity makes this spinoff a worthy endeavor, they’ve also got some ideas on how to improve it, and I agree with a lot of what they have to say.

Comedian W. Kamau Bell took top honors on Celebrity Jeopardy! Season 3, beating comedian Robin Thede and All-In podcast co-host Dave Friedberg in the finals to secure the seven-figure check for Donors Choose, which helps educators raise funds for their classrooms. The question was posed on Reddit, “How would you improve Celebrity Jeopardy!?” citing lower ratings, and many said their biggest issue was being unfamiliar with the contestants. Responses included:

• The #1 thing IMO is that it's gotta be celebrities who are household names. Without that, it's just Jeopardy! but less good. – Smoerhul
• Invite more well-known celebrities and/or hold the tournament less often. – scarbnianlgc
• Have some actual celebrities . I haven’t heard of almost all of them – Plastic-Ad7692
• 100% agree. Invite celebs that most people know. – BusinessWarthog6

I can see where these fans are coming from — I certainly wasn’t familiar with every contestant this season. However, I also think this is a fun way to discover new actors, comedians or podcasters that I might not have come across otherwise.

I think I agree more with the viewers who say don’t worry about how famous the celebs are but how interested they are in trivia and playing Jeopardy!. Comments to that effect included:

• Worry less about how well-known they are and more about whether they know anything. – BassPlayingSugarplum
• I don’t really care about the fame level of celebrities on these kinds of show but I think they should prioritize “nerdy” celebs. It’s SO MUCH FUN seeing people like Mina, David, and of course Ike take it seriously, try their best, do their research, etc. – awalawol
• Stop taking pitches from agents. … If we got more celebrities who actually wanted to play the game, we'd get better contestants, more natural back-and-forth, and quite possibly clues raised back to Teen Tournament or College Championship levels. – WeAllHaveReasons

Respect for the game is a huge concern for the Jeopardy! loyal — remember the harsh words fans had for Hasan Minhaj in the first season? — and many didn’t like how much banter there was amongst the Celebrity Jeopardy! contestants in addition to Ken Jennings’ multiple interviews with them:

• Cut the chit chat. Please. For the love of the game!!! I find myself literally doing wrap it up gestures to the tv lol. – Sufficient_Egg8037
• Rein in the total idiocy. Just so we’re clear, I don’t mind people joking for a minute, but if they’re spending half the show acting like clowns and not playing the game, that’s a problem. – EvilChocolateCookie
• Cut back on the banter for sure. We don’t need a brand new interview after every commercial break. – NoneOfThisMatters_XO
• So many of the celebrities don't take it seriously! I had to turn an episode off once during this tournament because they were joking and taking away from the game too much. To me it almost shows a lack of respect for the game, and that's what turns me away from it. – Parzival1337

I admit I start to get frustrated when it seems like the celebrities don’t appear to be putting much effort into it — and if I’m being way too honest, I fast-forward most of the interview stuff — but without all of that “filler,” how is Celebrity Jeopardy! supposed to fill an hour timeslot?

I agree with Redditor jordha, who suggests getting rid of Triple Jeopardy! and doing two games per episode, non-tournament style:

If Jeopardy! went back to not doing a tournament, they theoretically could attract bigger names because those celebrities would only have to commit to one tape day.

A couple of fans were really thinking outside of the box with their Celebrity Jeopardy! suggestions. and I have to give credit to drugsondrugs for saying that instead of Triple Jeopardy!, each game should start with Ken Jennings and Pop Culture Jeopardy! host Colin Jost competing for the chance to host the rest of the episode. I mean, I’d watch that.