The new season of is almost here, and more stars have been added to the lineup. TV Insider reports that The Office star Brian Baumgartner, Criminal Minds‘ Adam Rodriguez, former NBA star Shane Battier, The Talk co-host Sheryl Underwood, Melissa Fumero from Brooklyn Nine-Nine, sportscaster Peter Schrager, and Nurse Jackie alum Peter Facinelli will all be putting their hat in the ring.
The new group will join previously announced stars Christopher Meloni, Lisa Ann Walter, Mark Duplass, Sherri Shepherd, Dulé Hill, Mira Sorvino, Timothy Simons, Utkarsh Ambudkar, Steven Weber, Emily Hampshire, and Katie Nolan. In addition, the official Jeopardy! website has also revealed the first three matchups and it is quite a doozy.
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Kicking off the season premiere on Wednesday, Sept. 27 will be Duplass, Hampshire, and Ambudkar. Oct. 4 will see Baumgartner, Walter, and Simons going up against each other, while the following week will have Meloni, Shepherd, and Nolan duking it out. More matchups will be revealed in the coming weeks, but it already seems like it’s going to be a season to watch. It will also be nice to see some of these actors on screen since most scripted originals are delayed to next year because of the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes.
There will be nine quarterfinal games, which will be followed by three semi-finals and the finals. It’s expected the season will run through December, which will keep fans plenty occupied for the fall. The celebrity contestants will once again be competing for a charity of their choice, with the overall winner receiving a million dollars towards that charity. After Mayim Bialik backed out of to stand in solidarity with the strikes, Ken Jennings will be taking over as host for the upcoming season.
The Mindy Project alum Ike Barinholtz came out on top for Celebrity Jeopardy!‘s first season. He competed for the California-based non-profit Pacific Clinics, which provides behavioral and mental health services and support. It’s going to be exciting to see what charities the new crop of celebrities choose and who will become the winner. These matchups are already looking interesting. Hopefully, it won’t be long until more are announced. In the meantime, fans can watch the season premiere of Celebrity Jeopardy! and see Mark Duplass, Emily Hampshire, and Utkarsh Ambudkar go head-to-head on Wednesday, Sept. 27 only on ABC.