Jeopardy! champ Yogesh Raut gets surprise Tournament of Champions invite after online rampage agains

JEOPARDY! fans have not seen the last of controversial champion Yogesh Raut as he'll be making a comeback in the upcoming Tournament of Champions.

Yogesh got a surprise invite from Ken Jennings during a local news appearance despite previous Facebook rants calling Jeopardy! a "glorified reality show" following his defeat.

Host Ken, 49, delivered the news on Oregon's KATU, stating: "You're going straight to the Tournament of Champions, congratulations!"

Yogesh, 38, clearly thrilled, broke into a huge smile, unaware of the news until that Willy Wonka-esque golden ticket moment [seen above].

The three-time winner known for his outspoken nature wasn't the only one to get an unexpected direct invite (despite the mile-marker usually being four wins the prior season).

Three-day champs from Season 39, including Jake DeArruda, Melissa Klapper, Kevin Belle, and Jared Watson, also got local news invites, suggesting a potential lineup of 27 contestants, with more invitations likely for Sean McShane, Emmett Stanton, and Brian Henegar.

FANS REACT TO THE RETURN OF YOGESH

The news of Yogesh's return sparked mixed reactions among fans.

One fan wrote on Reddit: "As much as he hates Jeopardy, he's not going to say no to a chance to win $250k and to prove his haters wrong."

Another fan wrote: "Sweet Jesus," and a third wrote: "Oh boy."

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A fourth wrote: "I get it’s a ratings draw but I am disappointed he is coming back after his comments and behavior. I will not be watching that day."

A fifth wrote: "As much as his comments after the show annoyed me, I'll be watching this. Hopefully, he improved his buzzer technique since his original games."

RAUT'S RANTS

In his previous four-game stint on Jeopardy!, Yogesh made waves with total winnings of $98,000 and some impressive play.

However, his on-stage persona, where he boasted about his trivia prowess and criticized past contestants, didn't sit well with viewers.

His unconventional buzzer technique and failure to applaud his opponent Katie Palumbo further fueled the controversy.

Yogesh's post-game online rants, slamming fans, Jeopardy's culture, and his peers, began the following week.

Raut started his string of rants with a Jan. 12 2022 Facebook post that listed his quiz-related accomplishments, including that he finished in the Top 10 of the 2022 LearnedLeague Rundle Championship and won the Quizzing World Cup.

He pivoted to discuss his experience from the game show, saying: “Yet today I’m receiving the most attention, praise, congratulations, and nasty trolling from strangers (!) of my life…and for what?

"What did I do to get the biggest paycheck of my quizzing career? I beat two guys.”

"Jeopardy has not nor will ever be the Olympics of quizzing," he continued. "Jeopardy is not the problem, its centrality to American quizzing culture is.

"There will never be a healthy quizzing culture in this country until we can learn to stop pretending Jeopardy! is important."

He also mentioned: "Amy Schneider's BS relating quizzing expertise to 'privilege.'"

He added that his three wins will “never top the list of my quizzing accomplishments — not even my quizzing accomplishments of 2022.

“It is entertaining to watch but it bears the same relationship to real quizzing that ‘Holey Moley’ does to golf.”

The champ compared his win on the game show to a hypothetical chess grandmaster winning top tournaments but is only famous for beating low-ranked players in “a glorified reality show.”

He also noted that everyone at the show treated him “just fine” and that the rant was not about “personal spite.”

The Jeopardy! producers seemed to embrace the controversy, with executive producer Mike Davies referring to Yogesh as "a character" on their podcast. They previously hinted at a potential appearance in the next Tournament of Champions, seemingly unperturbed by the criticism.

CLASH OF THE TRIVIA TITANS

The wait is almost over, and after being postponed, the Season 39 Tournament of Champions is finally on the horizon.

The fiery faceoff will feature notable super-champions such as Cris Pannullo (21 wins) and Ray Lalonde (10 wins).

Fan favorites Ben Chan, Hannah Wilson, and Celebrity Jeopardy! winner Ike Barinholtz is also set to compete.

The Tournament of Champions follows a series of Season 39 Second Chance plays (with 36 of last year's most snubbed non-winners), which begins airing on December 19.

The two champions from that event will then advance to the Season 39 Champions Wildcard, competing against last year's standout brief winners to secure the last two ToC slots.

Then, the grand spectacle, the Tournament of Champions, will commence, and it's likely to all conclude in mid-March.

Twenty-seven overall slots (four more going to the winners of the now-airing Season 37/Season 38 Wildcard) would make the Season 39 ToC the largest contestant field ever.

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