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'Jeopardy!' fans shocked over 'Barbie' question amongst recycled clues in new episode amid writers strike

A clue used in this episode of the special tournament 'Second Chance' was based on Greta Gerwig's 'Barbie' film that came out in July 2023

CULVER CITY, CALIFORNIA: 'Jeopardy!' opened its new season after much difficulty and uncertainty on September 11, 2023. But the latest episode had fans concerned over the nature of the clues used by the production team. 

A clue used in this episode of the special tournament 'Second Chance' was based on Greta Gerwig's 'Barbie' film that came out in July 2023.

Many fans of the game show flocked to Reddit to discuss whether 'Jeopardy!' had decided to stick to their policy of recycling clues for the new season amid the WGA strike. 

New 'Jeopardy!' season introduces 'Barbie' category

After a weeks-long hiatus, 'Jeopardy!' finally returned with new content to TV with the first week of the Second Chance tournament which features old contestants from Season 37.

Since the game show has continued to remain actively in production and has started telecasting new work as well, it has come under fire multiple times for disregarding the writers who have been on strike for basic labor rights.

In light of this, the producers had previously made it clear to their audience that only the material already written by their writers would be used or recycled. 

In this episode, one of the categories for the contestants to choose from was "World of Barbie". While most of the clues from the category were trivia related to the toy doll, one of them was about the recently released blockbuster live-action film 'Barbie'.

This particular clue was: "In 2023 she & Ryan Gosling were the leads for a big-screen live-action "Barbie" adventure."

Since the film came out much after the WGA went on strike against studios all over Hollywood, many fans have questioned whether the show is only recycling older clues. 

Fans unsure about 'Jeopardy!'s clue recycling

Many fans were actively discussing the clues used in this episode and whether or not they could tell if they were used before. The one about the 'Barbie' movie in particular suprised several fans. 

A fan posted the question on Reddit, opening a discussion, which said, "Barbie came out in late July, the writers' strike began at the start of May. How was that film clue in there today?"

One person came up with a reason, commenting, "It’s possible they wrote clues for this tournament well in advance- before the strike even started. It’s the only explanation I can come up with."

Another one defended the showrunners and said that the clue was not exactly new information. "The Barbie movie was super-hyped months and months in advance - it was known the film would likely be a huge deal," the fan wrote.

"The Strike began May 2. Those character posters that were a massive viral/meme hit came out a month before that, and that wasn't anywhere near the first promotion of the film.

"In the meantime, the only question in the category that has anything to do with the film just asks who stars in the movie. Nothing suggests this category had to be written before the movie came out," they added.

A fan had a similar understanding of the dilemma and wrote, "We have often seen category tie-ins for movies that debut shortly after the shows air. Release schedules are often known many months before the movies debut so Jeopardy has plenty of time to plan out, write, and shoot the games using them."

A 'Jeopardy!' fan also suggested that the writer behind the supposed new clues could be one of the producers. "While I’m not sure if he is allowed to actively write the clues during the strike, Michael Davies is also credited as a writer," they wrote. 

However, the people on the thread were not happy with this idea as it would be going against the rule of the WGA strike.

"The writers are on strike, so no new writing should be taking place for a struck show. If Michael Davies wrote even 1 clue, he would be a scab," responded one user.