Miss Ken Jennings on ‘Jeopardy!’ already? His new primetime gig, ‘The Chase’ is a must-watch for fans of either classic gameshow.
If you’re a Ken Jennings fan, chances are you’ve seen or heart a snippet about ‘The Chase,’ ABC’s new primetime gameshow. But what exactly is it? Like ‘Jeopardy!’ before it, you’d be hard-pressed to know anything of the premise just from the abstract title.
For starters – and just like ‘Jeopardy!’ – ‘The Chase’ has been around for a long time in many forms. Originally a British gameshow of the same name, the show was first brought to the U.S. for the Gameshow Network in 2013. Now, ABC is reviving the classic for primetime – and they’re doing so with ‘Jeopardy!’s three All-Time Champions.
That’s right, ‘The Chase’ brings champions Ken Jennings, James Holzhauer, and Brad Rutter, together as “The Chasers” of ‘The Chase. This trio consists of the three highest winningJeopardy!’ contestants ever. For the first time, however, these ‘Jeopardy! The Greatest of All-Time Tournament’ champs are on the same team! And all ‘The Chase’ contestants will have to bring them down. One. By. One.
As for the game show itself, ‘The Chase’ is a heart-pounding, fast-paced quiz show where three competitors must pit their wits against the Chaser(s). Each is a former ‘Jeopardy!’ All-Time Champ in ruthless form. Their goal? To stop contestants from winning cash prizes. ‘The Chase’ comes in hour-long, primetime format as a fast-paced battle of brainpower, where competitors must think faster than ever before to answer up to 166 questions across an insane array of topics.
No pressure, right?
‘The Chase’ According to ‘Jeopardy!’s All-Time Champs
“One thing I really like [about The Chase] is that you have to beat the final boss,” ‘Jeopardy’ great James Holzhauer tells EW in a recent interview. “Sometimes you watch a Jeopardy! episode and it’s like the NFC East, where somebody has to win even if none of them deserve it. There’s no undeserving winners on The Chase. You have to defeat the Chaser in a big battle and earn your money there.”
Again – no pressure… Where do they find anyone good enough to stump this trio? Wherever they come from, they’re thankfully not in it alone. Each ‘The Chase’ episode features a team of three contestants to match the Chasers trio. Their goal is to answer rapid-fire series of trivia in order to build stockpiles of cash. In order to keep the money, however, they must best one of the three Chasers (Jennings, Holzhauer, Rutter) in a follow-up series of questions. To do so, they must stay ahead of the Chaser in answering time long enough to bank more cash for their team.
All of this then culminates in The Final Chase. Within, contestants must work together to answer even more trivia, before the Chaser can answer the same amount of trivia to catch up. If the Chaser catches up, then contestants go home empty-handed. Harsh!
“I think I’m in the minority of people who thinks it’s cool when [the Chasers] deny the contestants their winnings,” Holzhauer continues of the games’ progression. “But I think there will be people who are fans of Brad or [me] or Ken who say, ‘I don’t care what these contestants dream of doing. I’m happy to see the Chasers smack ’em down.'”
As for Ken Jennings himself, who’s fresh off his interim hosting duties on ‘Jeopardy!’, the champ adds that “You already know the Chasers, and you know that they have a relationship, and it really gives us a leg up. We don’t have to create any kind of personas, because you already know, James gonna James,” he says of fellow All-Time-Champ Holzhauer.
‘The View’s Sara Haines Hosts ‘The Chase’ Alongside Chasers
Alongside ‘Jeopardy!’s most well-known contestants ever, the show’s actual hosting duties fall to ‘The View’s Sara Haines.
“To have known these guys and how well they did [on Jeopardy!], and then to put them at the helm of a game show and say, ‘You can have your chance to go up against them,’ you have an established following that wants to see these guys do anything,” Sara Haines tells EW in the same interview. “We’ve got the strength of the format, but then people are tuning in ’cause they just want to see the GOATs. So it’s a win-win. Not for the contestants, but…” she tells the trade with a laugh.
Still not seeing it? Host Sara Haines and the Chasers, Ken Jennings, Brad Rutter and James Holzhauer, introduce the new prime-time trivia game show, “The Chase,” in ABC’s promo below:
ABC’s New prime-time trivia game show, “The Chase” – THURSDAY 9|8c on ABC.
ABC
ABC’s New prime-time trivia game show, “The Chase” airs THURSDAY 9|8c on ABC, ‘Jeopardy!’ fans. Will you be watching?
