Jeopardy! champion Yogesh Raut is known for stirring up controversy on and off the Alex Trebek stage. The podcaster and social psychologist from Washington clinched three straight wins during Season 39, and then in 2024, he won the Tournament of Champions (ToC) before nabbing a spot on Jeopardy! Masters, where he placed second and won $250,000. However, his Jeopardy! accomplishments have been stained by what many see as unsportsmanlike conduct and haughty remarks on social media.
Raut is one of the most memorable players in Jeopardy! history, but his unfavorable reputation precedes him—and, he seemingly regrets none of it. In a new, wide-ranging interview with The U.S. Sun, Raut doubled down on his past comments and controversial on-air behavior.
"Oftentimes when I'm being critical, I'm talking about a segment of the fandom, because people have supported me, defended me, reached out to me telling me I'm an inspiration," Raut explained of his actions. "The critical comments I made are fundamentally targeted at a minority of the fandom–a loud and vocal part.”
Raut is explicitly referring to his series of Facebook posts from 2023 in which he referred to Jeopardy! as the “Holey Moley of Golf.” He also dubbed the TV competition “a glorified reality show” that will never be considered “the Olympics of quizzing."
In another post, Raut wrote, "Jeopardy! is a fun TV show but putting it on a pedestal is an objectively bad thing. It's bad for the future of quizzing. It's bad for women and [people of color] who want to be treated with the same levels of dignity as their White male counterparts."
After those remarks made headlines, Jeopardy! legend James Holzhauer publicly declared that Raut should get “a lifetime ban” from the game as a result. Raut has since scrubbed these posts from his Facebook page, but he told The U.S. Sun that his views haven’t changed.
“I tell uncomfortable truths. That is a key part of my narrative. I am not throwing tantrums, I am not 'ranting,’" he said.
He continued, “I am a grown man with three master's degrees, an elite quizzer, and a person who has personally experienced some of the ugliest forms of racism there are. When I chose to speak, I chose to speak what I believed to be true based on that, not because I was having an emotional reaction to the ten millionth time I have lost something.”
Despite public reaction to his prior posts, Raut still frequently his opinions on the current state of Jeopardy! on social media, as well as includes outtakes from his time on ToC and Masters. And while some viewers have noted what they see as a shift in Raut’s recent on-air persona, the champion said in his recent interview that he doesn’t allow fan comments to dictate how he acts on stage.
“If there's one thing I can respond to, it's people who insisted that I had taken what they have said to heart and modified my behavior as an acceptance of the truth of what they said—that is both false and highly offensive,” Raut told The U.S. Sun.
“I never apologized," he added.
He also pushed back against the idea that he tried to be more popular with viewers in his recent games. “People who said, ‘Oh, he chose to be funny in the ToC to win over fans—The notion that they corrected me and cyber bullied me into a better person. I am not what they view as a better person," he said.
Raut made it clear that nothing has changed on his end. "I have not taken back anything that I had to say before," he explained. "I have not changed any of my views."
Raut also spoke about his issues with executive producer Michael Davies—namely, that Davies called Raut "a character" on the Inside Jeopardy! podcast, which the competitor took offense to. He also claimed that he wouldn't have accepted the invitation to compete on Masters if Davies had not apologized.
“No one reported on what a ghastly thing that was to say," Raut told the outlet. "It was unacceptable behavior. These statements were over a year old, and no one had pointed out how objectionable they were."
The contestant went on to say that he believes he is judged more harshly than other Jeopardy! alums.
"I have established myself as one of the top people in the quizzing community, and unlike the rest of the top, none of them have been persecuted the way I was while being good at it and being good at it with the ‘wrong’ skin color,'" Raut said. "That feels like a story.”
