Ken Jennings might be Jeopardy!'s GOAT, but James Holzhauer's Rutter roasts must be recognized
Aux Features Jeopardy
Jeopardy! OG Brad Rutter failed to launch during the show’s Greatest Of All Time tournament, winning zero games to James Holzhauer’s one and Ken Jennings’ four. But he’ll always be remembered in the Jeopardy! canon, not just for being the highest-earning American game show contestant of all time, but also for getting roasted to an absolute crisp by Holzhauer.
During last night’s final battle, host Alex Trebek wiped the scores on the board clean at one point, which didn’t matter for Rutter, who, by that point, had failed to win any cash. That was abundantly clear to everyone involved, but Holzhauer couldn’t help but rub a little salt in the wound. “Hey, Brad’s score is still on there,” Holzhauer cracked to a chorus of delighted gasps. Rutter, used to this by now, could only absorb the burn best as he could.
Of course, this wasn’t the first zing administered by Holzhauer, a gleeful trash talker who previously made headlines for his online duels with Jennings. Last week, he squeezed in a Muntz-esque “ha-ha” after beating Rutter to the buzzer for about the hundredth time.
None of this is lost on Rutter, who clapped back at Holzhauer with a dig of his own after Jennings was declared the winner last night. “Have the New Orleans Saints been in touch about a job?” he asked. “Because with their tendency to talk a bunch of trash after losing in the playoffs, you’ll fit right in.”
This was retweeted by Holzhauer, who, in the wake of his loss, thanked his fellow contestants for being “incredibly good sports about my kayfabe feuding and trash talk.” (Kayfabe, if you’re unaware, is a professional wrestling term for presenting the staged as if it were real.)
He also took a moment to highlight Rutter’s incredible five Jeopardy! tournament wins, a record that dwarfs those of he and Jennings (and, for kicks, Donald Trump).
Somebody give these guys a show.
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35 Comments
This actually made me sit down and watch “Jeopardy”. And then I remembered I heart Ken Jennings.
it was great fun to watch & i was proud i was able to get some right answers. all the contestants seemed to be having fun & taking it all in stride. i was #teamken all the way so i’m glad he won & i hope he takes over for alex when that is sadly necessary (although i think james would also do a good job).
Same here. Although by the second night I noticed nearly all the ones I was getting right, were on the top two rows in the low money range.James would be a really interesting choice, but he would just be roasting contestants constantly (think about all those times when all three contestants go 0-5 on sports categories). I’m not sure how well that would play out, but would sure as hell be entertaining.
sorry, i meant brad would also do a good job. i think james would do a terrible job.
Ah, yes, that’s a good correction. I could 100% see Ken Jennings being a great host, as would Brad. But if they gave it to James, I would never watch another episode. There’s something very off-putting and smug about him.
I know he can’t help it (actually, he could, because he’s got the money), but I find his underbite and grimace-smile very off-putting. I can’t blame him for not getting his bite fixed, though, because my bite is too perfect and when I was a teenager the orthodontist wanted to break my jaw and set it back, and I was like “Ffffuuuuck that!”
When I was a teen my doctor recommended the same thing though it was more as a “helpful” way to get my crummy insurance to cover braces since they wouldn’t do it otherwise. They classified braces as cosmetic but surgically correcting an underbite that then needed braces to line everything up again was covered. What a great and helpful system we have.As for James, I found him amusing in this setting while I didn’t care for him in his initial run. I guess because he was destroying normies then and now they were all on more or less even footing? And I felt like during this tournament all three had a pretty light-hearted tone about the whole thing. I mean even the “losers” came away with $250K for their trouble.
Yeah, the bite never bothered me (and I also rejected major jaw surgery that would only solve cosmetic problems). It’s just his entire persona that is like nails on a chalkboard to me. Like with the aforementioned zingers, there’s two parts to successfully executing a good-natured zinger: the ability to come up with the line, and the ability to deliver it. James can’t deliver the line without sounding smarmy. I only watched one episode of the champions showdown in part because his smug way of delivering these “fun” lines makes me truly uncomfortable.
It probably bothers me more because it reminds me of something I’m slightly self-conscious of in myself. Although I don’t have an underbite, my top and bottom teeth just meet too perfectly in the front. It’s not that noticeable because my lower teeth don’t show when I smile unless I force a weird grin like Holzhauer. When I go to a new dentist or dental hygienist, they will invariably ask me, “Can you rest your lower jaw back?”, and I’m like, “That’s as far back as it goes.”
I have a baby tooth that never grew out so the two teeth flanking my front teeth are slightly asymmetrical (I find it endearing, it’s barely noticeable unless you love staring at my open mouth like a creep) and a dentist once offered to file down my front teeth and other flanker (I’m sure that’s what the tooth next to the front tooth is called) to even it out, which would’ve given me tiny rectangle top teeth closing over relatively massive bottom teeth.
yes, if you looked up “smug” in the dictionary, you would see his smug face.
Agreed. I keep hearing on our local news about how he’s a “hometown boy”…..lived here most of my life and can confirm he’s as smug and insufferable as our most irritating residents, so that tracks.
I think Ayisha Tyler would be great.
*Aisha
america does not give a fuck about those two nobodies. ken jennings is the GOAT in every respect, particularly twitter.
I actually gasped aloud in my living room when James roasted Brad with that burn.
Draw me like I’m ur jeopardy board Brad. Swoon.
I loved everything about this tournament. As a former contestant with a sole second place showing to her name, seeing these true masters is a pleasure!
I’ll bet ABC was ecstatic over Holzhauer’s trash talking.
Sometimes, with folks like that, you wonder if they get “encouraged” to play that aspect of their personalities up, or if they do it on their own in a calculated way to raise their profile.
In my household, namely the wife was glad that Jennings won, she truly hates Holzhauer’s style of play and personality. She is very old school about some things and Jeopardy is one of them. I for one, loved the games and thought James made the games a little more entertaining and more familiar, like 3 buddies playing a game.
I loved the games, too. As a fan, I agree with your wife. I enjoy watching the players go through a category top to bottom, because the writers will often have themes or hidden jokes. But as a strategy, James’ technique is sound: get all the big money clues off the board first, hopefully building up an early lead which also leaves fewer opportunities for your opponents to catch up. It didn’t work as well this time, since he was playing Ken Jennings and not the average contestant.
I had a similar observation. I never saw Ken during his run, but it was impressive watching someone beat James (who I followed his whole run) at his own style of play. After the Thursday show, I told my wife “Ken’s got this. He’s the GOAT”
It’s also hunting for the Daily Doubles. The majority of them are in the bottom half of the board, so he clears them out as fast as possible.
Because nobody else can buzz in a player who gets all the DDs has a significant advantage.
Plus Brad waits for the lights to buzz in, Ken and James predict it based on Trebek speaking, leaving Brad with a much slower reaction time.
I’m with your wife, Ken won it the “right way” haha. That’s silly to say out loud but it’s true. James is such a stud and dominant and has the skills to back it up. But man, his style of play was infuriating, almost disrespectful in a way. This game and this show just earned another couple decades with the advent of James though. It’s back in watercooler talk again (partly with Alex’s illness to, unfortunately.
I can’t be the only one who thinks that James is annoying as hell, right?Plus he’s got an all-time Punchable Face, like Ted Cruz and that douchebag with the Big Pharma money. That smug mug of his is just insisting on a fisting.
In the lead up to the show, James busted out the Steiner Math meme for some of his trash talk. As far as I’m concerned, he became the GOAT on that day
James is/was very good for the show, but witty repartee is not his strong suit…I can just tell.
James attempts to imitate human friendly competitive banter, but it’s just not natural to him. I’m certain he was sincerely trying to just have friendly fun, though. He should stay being a mostly harmless Jeopardy game juggernaut.He is not a master roaster by any measure.Ken or Brad would be worthy Trebek replacements or…stay with me…Buzzy Cohen.
Jeopardy! OG Brad Rutter failed to launch during the show’s Greatest of all Time tournament, winning zero games to James Holzhauer’s one and Ken Jennings’ four.You mean three, right?
Ken won three games, not four. It was first to three.
I was going to say, had read everywhere that it was three. Thought I was crazy.
Am I out of touch?No, it’s the AV Club editors who are wrong
“Last week, he squeezed in a Muntz-esque “ha-ha” after beating Rutter to the buzzer for about the hundredth time.”
More specifically, the Nelson Muntz “ha-ha” was because he beat Rutter (a long time resident of SE Pennsylvania) to an answer about Philadelphia. It’s a better insult when you pay close attention to the details.
Did Rutter at any point mention that Holzhauer looks like a fucking psychopath?