Now Without Live Audiences: Jeopardy!, Wheel of Fortune

Sources cite the health of show hosts amid coronavirus spread
By Arden Dier,  Newser Staff
Posted Mar 10, 2020 4:33 AM CDT
Jeopardy! , Wheel of Fortune to Forego Live Audiences
Pat Sajak, left, and Alex Trebek pose together at the 38th Annual Daytime Emmy Awards in Las Vegas on June 19, 2011.   (AP Photo/Dan Steinberg)

Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune will be taped without a live audience for the near future. Sony Pictures Television made the call out of "an abundance of caution" due to the spreading coronavirus, the fact that audience members are typically over 60 (putting them at higher risk of contracting the virus) and travel by air, and the health of the show hosts, sources tell CNN and Variety. Jeopardy! host Alex Trebek, 79, is battling Stage 4 pancreatic cancer while Wheel of Fortune host Pat Sajak, 73, underwent emergency surgery for an intestinal blockage in November. Taping will continue through mid-April at the studio's Culver City lot. (More coronavirus stories.)

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