Credit: ABCJeopardy! is an American television institution, pitting some of the most brilliant minds in the country against each other in a peerless match of intellectual competition. However, the single biggest winner of the long-running quiz show says he had a special advantage in nearly every episode of the show in which he appeared.
Brad Rutter is the highest-earning contestant to ever compete on Jeopardy!, currently holding a lifetime winnings record of $4,938,436, dwarfing both current Jeopardy! host Ken Jennings ($4,370,700 all-time winnings) and perennial TV villain James Holzhauer ($3,462,216 all-time winnings).
Credit: ABC
Related: ‘Jeopardy!’ Fans Call Category the “Worst Thing the Show Has Done”
All three men regularly appear in special tournament events, with James Holzhauer winning the recent Jeopardy! Masters limited series. Despite that, Brad Rutter is still the champ, and he says that is due in part to one particular advantage.
‘Jeopardy!’ Champions Have a Technical Advantage
In a recent interview with Tyler Boronski via YouTube, Brad Rutter revealed that one of the biggest advantages in Jeopardy! is knowing how to handle the “buzzer,” the notoriously difficult instrument by which contestants signal their answers.
Brad Rutter says that there is “nothing else quite like the Jeopardy! buzzer” and that it is not actually possible to practice using them without actually playing the game. In effect, that means that the more rounds you play, the more likely you are to continue playing more rounds, essentially giving winning contestants a self-reinforcing advantage.
“The returning champion has a big advantage every show, says Brad Rutter of Jeopardy! “Just because they have played at least one full game with that buzzer, and the other two people haven’t.”
Brad Rutter Says to Study Very Specific Things
The all-time Jeopardy! champ also says that “there are some things you can memorize and be pretty confident that at least one of them is going to come up in some way. And that is Presidents, World Capitals, and Shakespeare.” Anyone who has ever watched an episode of Jeopardy! can attest that there are a whole lot of categories that involve those specific things, so we can probably take Brad Rutter at face value here.
Do ‘Jeopardy!’ Champions’ Experience Cancel Each Other Out?
It is probably fair to wonder if Brad Rutter’s advice about both the buzzer and the subjects to study pertains only to neophyte players, and not, say, Ken Jennings, James Holzhauer, Jerome Vered, David Madden, or any of the other, lesser champions.
Related: ‘Jeopardy!’ Host Mayim Bialik Facing Backlash for Changing Rules Mid-Show
After all, if all returning champions have experience in using the buzzer and similar base knowledge, which might mean that the advantage dissipates when facing off against one’s peers.
Jeopardy! might not be quite the same since the tragic passing of longtime host Alex Trebek, with fans finding constant fault with hosts Ken Jennings and Mayim Bialik. It may be that the glory days of the quiz show have passed, but time will tell. Still, the dollar signs on Brad Rutter’s record don’t lie and we should take his word for what makes a champion.
Do you agree with Brad Rutter’s Jeopardy! tips? Buzz in at the comments below!