Do contestants on jeopardy know the question before the show airs?

Sure the show was taped long before they air the program. You might mean "Did they know in advance that the question was going to be asked?" That's like asking if the show is a total fraud that passes out a list of questions and tells the contestants to study them. In truth, for the contestants, it's sort of like The Tonight Show's 'sidewalk all-stars'. The sketch is funny because most of us know the answer to the question Jay is asking. Many of the answers to the Jeopardy questions are known by all three contestants, but only one wins a chance to answer by ringing in first. Remember, they are on the show because they pride themselves on being able to answer trivia questions. They would not like to have the questions passed out ahead of time to everyone because they feel they would lose their advantage. So, in a sense, they know the answer to the question before the team of writers for Jeopardy even made up the question. With travel and lodging as high as it is some of the 3rd place finishers lose money for the chance to be on the show.