ESPN Jeopardy season 2 renewed — and the contestants this time are regular sports fans: how to apply for a shot at $300,000
You have spent two decades screaming correct answers at your TV while a millionaire in a blazer gets them wrong. Congratulations: that hobby is now a job application.
The news itself is simple. ESPN Jeopardy! is coming back for season 2 on Disney+, Hulu and the ESPN app, with Joe Buck returning as host — the renewal was even announced during Monday Night Football, which is the most ESPN way imaginable to renew a quiz show.
The twist is better. Season 1 was a celebrity affair: Jon Hamm, Hannah Storm, Manti Te'o and Adam Pally buzzing in for charity, with ESPN's own Jeremy Schaap walking away as champion. Season 2 throws all of that out. No celebrities. Regular people. You, potentially.
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The pivot was the plan
This wasn't a panic move — executive producer Michael Davies telegraphed it before the renewal was even official:
"I am hopeful that the next season of ESPN Jeopardy!, which feels very much on the cards, will feature regular players."
Translation: the celebrity season was the proof of concept. The civilians are the show. And the winner's check is $300,000 — real money, going to a real person, not a foundation with a celebrity's name on it.
How to actually get on
Here's the part you screenshot. Applications run through the official Jeopardy site, and the funnel starts with a test:
- Take the ESPN Jeopardy! Anytime Test — available now, online, whenever you want;
- Be 18 or older and a resident of the US or Canada;
- Previously played regular Jeopardy!? Doesn't disqualify you. Your trivia past is forgiven;
- Survive the funnel and you're playing on the Alex Trebek Stage in Culver City — six quarterfinals, then semis, then a final for the $300K.
A word of realism
The test is the easy part. The people you'll face are the ones who know the 1987 Heisman runner-up and the current holder of the record for most consecutive made free throws, cold, at a buzzer's notice.
Every bar-trivia champion in America just felt a disturbance in the Force. That's your competition.
No premiere date yet — but the tapings happen on the same stage where Ken Jennings works his day job. Go take the test before your group chat's resident stats guy does.
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