JEOPARDY!’s ‘greatest’ player of all time Brad Rutter has blamed a technical mishap after suffering a shocking Masters defeat.
The episode kicked off with game show legend Brad Rutter playing alongside last year’s Masters champion Victoria Groce and the 2024 runner-up, Yogesh.
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Actor and producer Brad, who is the biggest prize earner in the game show’s history, goes way back with host Ken and said his goal of the tournament was to “make fun” of the 74-day champ.
While Brad was presumably a frontrunner, it was Yogesh, who won the 2024 Tournament of Champions and placed second on Masters, who was off to a quick start.
Now, fans of the show have begged Brad to get back into the “groove” of things after the shocking defeat.
But it appears the star has chosen to blame a technical mishap.
During the interview portion of the show, Brad and Ken were joking around with each other since they used to be former opponents.
Brad said his “goal” for the tournament was to “make fun of Ken” and he had no doubt Ken would “give him the opportunity” to be made fun of.
He then went on to blame the buzzer for performing so badly.
After the first Jeopardy! round was complete, Ken, 50, informed the contestants that Yogesh had delivered the “best” performance in the history of the tournament.
To compare to his 15-0 record, Victoria had gotten 11 correct clues and 1 incorrect, while Brad had correctly gotten just 3 clues and missed 2.
The Double Jeopardy! round only proved Yogesh’s capability even more and lengthened his impressive record.
When the game was fully complete, Yogesh had scored 24 correct answers – and missed none.
Victoria impressively buzzed in accurately to 20 clues and missed 2 while Brad, who admitted to having an off game, got just 8 right while guessing wrong on 3.
While the monetary points per game don’t reflect your total earnings within the tournament, Yogesh came out on top with $30, 800.
Jeopardy! Set Secrets
Jeopardy! fans don’t see everything behind the scenes from watching on TV. These hidden set features make the show run smoothly:
- Each podium has a hidden riser so that all contestants appear to be the same height.
- After each clue is read, signal lights go off around the game board, indicating players can buzz in and respond.
- Buzz in too early, and you’re locked out for .25 seconds.
- The podiums have a small white light in the lower left corner, which tells Ken Jennings who goes next.
- Contrary to popular belief, the player with control doesn’t have a buzzer advantage on the next clue.
- To the game board’s left is a scoreboard so the players can see their opponents’ scores.
- All contestants must bring three outfits to the studio, but only the host and returning champion change for the next episode.
- There are wardrobe rules, including restrictions on busy patterns, solid white, purple (like the background), and logos.
- Five episodes are taped in a single day, and sometimes more.
- The categories, players (aside from the returning champion), and Final Jeopardy! for a tape day are all drawn randomly to ensure fairness.
- Female contestants are asked not to wear makeup, which is applied backstage, and don’t wear mascara because of sweat.
- Contestants fill out a questionnaire, and producers select five Q&A topics for the host.
- Host Ken isn’t allowed to interact with the contestants until after the game.
- Players can request to sit in a chair while competing without question.
Victoria placed second with $14,000 despite being the only one to accurately guess the Final Jeopardy! clue.
Brad, who many considered a frontrunner for the tournament, came in third with just $2,178.
Despite Brad’s disappointing performance, his time in the 2025 tournament is not over due to the way the competition’s style is set up.
Jeopardy! Masters airs following Celebrity Wheel of Fortune at 9 pm EST on ABC.
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