Jeopardy! fans floored as rising champ Yogesh Raut trails newcomer going into 'insane' final round

Publish date: 2024-05-06

JEOPARDY! contestant Yogesh Raut won his third game on Friday with an impressive combined total of $96K - though it wasn't exactly looking that way.

He trailed newcomer Michael Cavaliere for the entire episode before an "insane" final round for the books.

The 2-day champ faced Michael, a consultant from New York City, and Brenda Crowell, a freelance writer and crisis worker trainee from Williamsport, Pennsylvania.

Yogesh, a blogger, podcaster, and freelance writer from Springfield, Illinois, put up a huge $75K in his first two games - he's certainly making a splash so far on Jeopardy!.

To finish the week, however, he was given a run for his money that viewers won't forget anytime soon.

Michael came out swinging and bet "the whole shebang" when he landed on the first randomly placed Daily Double.

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He nabbed it and was soaring ahead with more than $10K by the end of the first round.

A bit more robust on the buzzer compared to Yogesh, who seems to be at war with his according to some fans, Michael then landed on the second "Daily Double" and bet $5K.

"Yogesh has not yet passed you," host Ken Jennings, 48, applauded as the rival contestant had his game face on.

Michael didn't get it right, losing a crucial amount - but then landed on the last "Daily Double" of the game and won back his $5K in a thrilling display.

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'PAY ATTENTION!'

Going into Final Jeopardy, the fresh face was leading with $21,200, while Yogesh had $19,000, and Brenda -$600.

"Pay attention" Ken warned them as the show cut to the last commercial break.

When we returned, Ken sternly said: "Close game, here's the clue."

As the 30-seconds began and the "Think" theme song played, it was only the two gents, just $2.2K apart, who competed.

Since Brenda - who hilariously revealed she had written Jaws: The Musical during her interview - was in the red, she was asked to leave the stage, which bites.

Under "At The Bookstore" it read: "The name of this author dead since 2013 now appears on books written by a former U.S. marshal & a former Apache helicopter pilot."

It was hard to ignore that Michael was writing up until the final notes of the Jeopardy! song whereas Yogesh was stylus down.

"Yogesh, in second place for the first time," Ken began turning to the rising star contestant to see what he wrote.

Yogesh revealed he was correct with "Who is: Tom Clancy" and bet, $2,201 giving him $21,201.

Ken took a moment to observe: "You have the lead by a buck."

"You looked at this for a long time sir," Ken admitted to the opponent.

"You wrote down...oh no! Who is 'Heller.'"

In a Catch-22 the first-timer who would have otherwise won plummeted down $16,801 to leave him with $4,399.

"The 3-day curse is broken!" Ken concluded, as Yogesh fake-wiped the sweat from his forehead, which was some way to celebrate.

'WHAT A GAME!'

One viewer wrote on Reddit after the unusually close match: "AHHH! Michael played brilliantly but when it took him until the last second to write his FJ response I got a sinking feeling."

"Two great players! What a match," wrote a second.

Another wrote: "What a nailbiter of a game. Yogesh has been three for three on the Final Jeopardy.

"The buzzer is seeming to be his big weakness. We'll see if a new taping day makes him better or worse."

A fourth simply put it: "What an absolutely insane game."

And a fourth: "My gosh Michael played an extremely dominant game. If not playing Yogesh I’m sure he’d have been a multi-day winner."

YOGESH SEASON

Yogesh arrived on Wednesday having beaten 2-day winner Connor Sears.

It wasn't a soft launch; in his first game, he revealed that he knew and beat James Holzhauer at high school trivia - saying the legendary player was "Jamie in those days."

In his second episode, he flexed he won a trivia event that Ken and Brad Rutter were involved with in 2014.

He also responded to a clue about the Statue of Liberty by using its original name "Liberty Enlightening the World" leading Ken to call him a "show off".

Fans are just having a field day with Yogesh in general.

"Hey is that Yogesh fella on Jeopardy giving anyone else supervillain vibes" on wrote to Twitter.

"Look out for the new Jeopardy champ Yogesh. We may have a superstar on our hands.

Last two nights he revealed he was James Holzhauer’s high school rival and is the person to ever beat Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter in a trivia competition. Ice in his veins," wrote another.

"Yogesh on Jeopardy is abusing or destroying the buzzer. Never seen someone be so violent with it," wrote a third.

Yogesh has made it no secret he's a big wig in the trivia world and despite his lack of buzzer control - which sees him gripping the device like there's no tomorrow - he's winning big.

Ken referred to the lifting of the "3-day curse" tonight, meanwhile, since there have been only two-dayers since the beloved Ray LaLonde recently lost until now.

There was Lloyd Sy, who beat Ray after 13 wins, and then Patrick Curran, who beat Lloyd - both going down on their third bout - now everyone's got one name on their lips; Yogesh.

Over the summer, Ken and actress Mayim Bialik were announced as the permanent replacements for the late longtime host, Alex Trebek.

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Mayim will be returning in late February which is later than was first announced given her Call Me Kat schedule has "evolved," starting with a tournament for college students as the show itself evolves into its super-champ era.

While she is hosting that, fans will still get more Ken as he is hosting the new Jeopardy! Masters spinoff in primetime which is said to be coming in spring.

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