Yogesh Raut, an Indian American, wins Jeopardy! The Tournament of Champions

March 22 :
Yogesh Raut, an Indian American podcaster, free-lance writer, and blogger, has won the $250,000 top prize in the Jeopardy! Tournament of Champions (ToC). He triumphed against Troy Meyer, a music executive from Tampa, Florida, and Ben Chan, a philosophy professor from Green Bay, Wisconsin, at the March 19 final. Raut moves on to the May Masters Tournament.

He "waged smartly" to win the tournament even though he didn't correctly answer the Final Jeopardy question on the March 19 edition. He told The Columbian, "Even though I've worked my entire life for this, sometimes in the end I'm at the mercy of luck."

Raut finally got his chance to appear on the show in January 2023, having tried out multiple times over the previous twenty years. After a four-day streak, he won $98,000. He was criticised for his "bad sportsmanship," "ungracious," and "arrogant" behaviour while he was on the show. Later, he responded to his detractors on Facebook and in a number of pieces.

"Decades of hard work and dedication" and "a great deal of luck for me to triumph over equally skilled competitors" were what it needed for him to place himself "in a position to win the ToC," he wrote. However, he continued, "in the end, given how awful I was at that aeroplane game, I'm still the guy who can easily be outperformed on a mildly complex visual search task."

Raut dispelled a few other myths, such as the idea that "photographic" memory exists. However, it greatly undervalues the character attributes that are genuinely linked to success on quizzes: inventiveness, limitless curiosity, pride in one's interest, and a desire to connect with others through shared passions.

Raut is an American born who grew up in Springfield, Illinois. He is a graduate of the University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts, Stanford University, New York University, Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy, and Washington State University Carson College of Business. He is a master's degree holder in business administration, psychology, and cinema-television studies.