For Jeopardy! fans, the summer months are the worst, given the (admittedly not all that) long wait for new episodes to debut in the fall TV schedule. New episodes are reportedly already being taped, so we’ll have new champions to root for soon enough, but it’s not like anyone will be forgetting the most recent Tournament of Champions winner Yogesh Raut anytime soon. Especially after his recent comments that oh-so-eloquently clapped back at fans who were critical about his buzzer-pressing tactics.
While he didn’t end up pulling out a win during the second Jeopardy Masters tourney, Raut pulled off an envious second-place spot, and will be returning to the third iteration whenever it airs on ABC. And when he returns, it doesn’t sound as if he’ll be changing up either his buzzer behavior or his Q&A storytelling. Speaking with The U.S. Sun, the trivia genius talked about both his big wins and his big losses, and addressed the section of the fandom that couldn’t stop talking about the way he buzzed in.
I dont think I put much pot into it. If people find it funny, that’s their business; if people find it entertaining, it’s a TV show, and that’s fine. Maybe if I changed it, I would have done worse. I find it hard to believe I would have done better.
For those who aren’t aware, Yogesh Raut is indeed one of the more performative and physically active Jeopardy! contestants by way of how much energy goes into ringing in. While some hopefuls remain still while keeping their buzzer-holding hands out of sight, Raut’s approach looks more like someone holding a video game controller, often holding the buzzer with one hand and jamming the button with his other.
It’s quite a change from the norm, but to his point, it’s not exactly unsuccessful. And had he shifted his techniques simply because viewers were rude about it, he might have doomed his chances. Instead, he went from being a three-game champ to the overall TOC winner. And as he continued, Yogesh Raut reflected some hilarious criticism right back at the fandom for obsessing over his style of play. As he put it:
I don’t know that I have any obligation to harm my own play because people find the way I treat an inanimate object objectionable. When people demonize a human being because they claim to have sympathy for an inanimate object, it’s a little weird.
To be sure, Jeopardy! fans are known to get hyper-critical about a lot of things, which Season 40 champ and future Tournament of Champions contender Drew Basile is well aware of, having faced a lot of negative comments about his self-congratulatory nature and other things. But they also go hard on the Clue Crew for inaccuracies on the board, and rail on Ken Jennings and the judges for accepting certain answers and not others. It's hard out here for a Jeopardy! staffer.
But from a big picture perspective, the reason why fans are able to share so many critical views about Yogesh's buzzer behavior is because he's taking part in so many games, which wouldn't be the case if he was a terrible player with an unsuccessful method of chiming in with answers. I'm waiting for the person who's finally brave enough to use their face to buzz in.
While it's unclear what will happen to everyone in the next Tournament of Champions, which will welcome back a host of female winners from Season 40, it's clear that Yogesh Raut isn't letting any off-screen opinions stop him from climing the list of Jeopardy!'s biggest winners, even if he's not in that Top 10 range just yet.
Jeopardy! Season 41 will debut this fall in syndication, so be sure to check your local listings for further details. Meanwhile, Colin Jost will be hosting Pop Culture Jeopardy!, which will stream for those with Amazon Prime subscriptions.
