While many industry events have chosen to postpone or outright cancel their upcoming gatherings out of concern for the spread of coronavirus, Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy! have reportedly opted to continue shooting, albeit with a twist. As first reported by TMZ and confirmed by Vulture, both gameshows will record without a live studio audience starting on Tuesday. There’s currently no word as to how long the shows will shoot without a crowd, but both are reportedly scheduled to tape episodes through the middle of April.
In addition to the general global concern about COVID-19, Jeopardy! host Alex Trebek is a year into treatment for Stage 4 pancreatic cancer. While he’s doing great, per his recent public announcement about his illness, battling cancer is one of the many ways someone can become immunocompromised and more vulnerable to the virus, and we just cannot do Alex Trebek like that, not after all he’s been through.