This story contains spoilers for Jeopardy! Masters Season 3, which is available to stream in full with a Hulu subscription if you’re not caught up.
Tournament season on Jeopardy! has officially come to an end on the 2025 TV schedule, as the champion of Jeopardy! Masters was crowned. Yogesh Raut bested last year’s champ Victoria Groce and JIT runner-up Juveria Zaheer to claim the Season 3 trophy (and $500,000), and even though Raut didn’t have to compete against James Holzhauer this time around, the former champ was still on Raut’s mind, as he recalled the advice — and pretty great compliment — Holzhauer previously gave him.
Through three seasons, Jeopardy! Masters has crowned three different winners, who just happen to be the three finalists from Season 2 — James Holzhauer, Victoria Groce and Yogesh Raut. Since the conclusion of the latest season, Raut has been using Facebook to give in-depth commentary about his experience, and he recalled how one of his favorite memories from last season came full circle this year:
One of my favorite moments from last year's tournament occurred when James was asked to pose at his podium while pointing at his (third-place) total and replied, ‘No.’ Standing nearby, I said, ‘Wait, you're allowed to do that?’ and the photography team burst into laughter. (A few moments later, when they somewhat sheepishly asked me for the same pose, I was fine with it.)
That’s kind of exactly the reaction I’d expect from the Jeopardy! villain and Ken Jennings foe. Yogesh Raut continued:
It was then that James gave me a key piece of advice I haven't really followed through on — ‘You need to get comfortable with throwing your weight around; you're one of the stars of the show now’ — before adding, with genuine modesty, ‘That's the only note I have on your game.’
Wow, that’s an incredibly generous sentiment for James Holzhauer to relay to the 2024 Tournament of Champions winner, especially considering Holzhauer once tried to get Yogesh Raut banned from Jeopardy! for life.
Raut may say he hasn’t fully taken Holzhauer’s advice on throwing his weight around, but he did invoke the champion when it came time to take photos after this season’s Masters wrapped, as he said:
Anyway, this time around I dutifully jumped through all the posing hoops they asked of me ... until they requested that I kiss the trophy. I asked for my ‘James Holzhauer exception’ and they knew right away what I meant.
James Hozhauer chose to sit out this tournament season, which is allegedly how Brad Rutter came to be on Jeopardy! Masters. But the Las Vegas sports gambler — one of Jeopardy!’s biggest winners ever — has made his mark on the game, and Yogesh Raut recalled another moment when his name came up. Referencing the sickest burn in the quiz show’s history from the 2020 Greatest of All Time Tournament, Raut wrote of the Jeopardy! Masters’ two-game final:
When the Game 1 scores were wiped, I immediately realized that this was my chance to put a self-deprecating spin on the James Holzhauer line by saying, ‘Hey, my score's still up there!’ In the moment, though, it occurred to me that any such comment might be misinterpreted as a dig at Juveria [whose score after Game 1 was also 0], so I kept silent.
I love that Yogesh Raut was considerate of Juveria Zaheer’s feelings in that moment, and given how close the two seemed to become, I can see why he wouldn’t want his joke to be twisted by Jeopardy! fans into a slight at his buddy. However, he continued:
A moment after the moment, I realized that *Juveria* would not misinterpret my comment. If you look closely, you can see me turn to her and start to say something at the top of the game; what I was saying was, ‘Hey, my score's still up there!’
I did go back to the moment he was talking about, and sure enough, as Ken Jennings prepares to announce the Game 2 “Jeopardy!” categories, Yogesh Raut says something to Juveria Zaheer, points to what was likely the scoreboard, and then laughs.
We may not have been able to hear the joke, but I’m glad that moment was inadvertently captured anyway.
Only time will tell if we’ll see James Holzhauer return to the Alex Trebek Stage. Yogesh Raut (along with Victoria Groce and Juveria Zaheer) will receive an automatic invitation to Masters Season 4, and I’d love to see these Jeopardy! giants go head-to-head again.
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