JEOPARDY! contestant Emily Sands has defended Yogesh Raut over an unbecoming remark he quietly made during their Tournament of Champions match.

Yogesh won Friday’s ToC semifinals game and is now a finalist along with Ben Chan and the winner of Monday’s episode.

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Emily Sands landed on a crucial Daily Double during the ToC semifinalCredit: Jeopardy!

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After she missed it, Yogesh Raut could be heard uttering the correct responseCredit: Jeopardy!

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Fans reacted: ‘Did I hear Yogesh quietly say ‘Prussian Blue’?’ and ‘Know-it-all move!’Credit: Jeopardy!
The divisive three-day champ and pro online trivia player faced Wildcard winner Emily and 4-day champ David Sibley.

The game – and specifically this moment- couldn’t have been more high-stakes as it decided who the second finalist in the 2024 ToC would be.

Emily had $7600, Yogesh led with $13,000, and David had $2200 in Double Jeopardy! when she landed on a crucial Daily Double.

Emily opted to go all-in on the video clue under the category: “Shades of Blue.”

It read: “In his ‘Great Waves’ print, Hokusai used this imported blue pigment first made in Germany.”

Emily incorrectly guessed “Cobalt,” and she looked crushed as host Ken Jennings told her the correct response was “Prussian Blue.”

But as Ken said the correct response, Yogesh could also be heard uttering “Prussian Blue” under his breath.

J-archive – which chronicles every episode – even included Yogesh’s mention of the correct response but has since removed it.

This gesture did not win fans over, especially since the huge miss may have cost Emily the game and being a finalist instead.
Jeopardy! star Ben Chan ‘restores order’ in chaotic ToC and avenges controversial past ruling with ‘dominating’ win

‘SO UNCALLED FOR’

One fan wrote on Reddit: “Did I hear Yogesh quietly say ‘prussian blue’ as Ken was telling Emily the correct response?

“You just saw your opponent lose everything in a huge daily double, and your first thought is to tell them that you knew the correct answer?”

And another: “Blurting out the correct answer to Emily’s missed daily double was so uncalled for.”

Another fan wrote: “I caught that too. I’m not defending him because I strongly believe in good sportsmanship and game show etiquette, but I think Yogesh is a REALLY competitive and passionate trivia guy, so that probably just came out as a reflex.”

A third wrote: “That might have been Yogesh’s intent, like maybe he was trying to will her the answer. But it wouldn’t be out of character for him either way.”

A fourth wrote: “I agree, saying the answer like he’s the host was a know-it-all move.”

‘NOTHING BUT FRIENDLY’

Emily Sands responded in the Reddit thread writing: “I didn’t hear it, wouldn’t care if I had.

“Yogesh was nothing but friendly throughout the ToC and you’d have seen all three of us in a post-game celebratory hug had they not cut to Ken for his closing remarks.

She added: “Yogesh knows everything I do plus another 40%+ so I knew I’d have to play well and get lucky to win. I almost kept it interesting to the end but I have zero regrets as to how things played out.”

Other fans appreciated Emily’s statement even if they did not appreciate Yogesh’s on-stage flex.

An additional fan wrote: “My heart sank for you as soon as Ken said ‘no…’ because I was really rooting for either you or Ben to win this ToC. I suppose I can’t criticize Yogesh for that moment given your comment.”

Yogesh also made it a point to show they all made friendship bracelets during Final Jeopardy.

To which other fans reacted:  “I don’t care about the friendship bracelet. I’ll never forget him muttering “prussian blue.”

And: “That’s kind of the duality of Yogesh in a nutshell. He definitely cares about those bracelets and the friendships they represent to this day. But he did also mutter the answer.”

Yogesh made a splash during his three-win stint in 2023 by blasting Jeopardy! as “unimportant” and a “glorified reality show” on Facebook upon losing.

The $98,000 winner (who scored a perfect game) also used three of his four on-stage stories to brag about being a big name in the trivia world.

He claimed that he beat James Holzhauer at high school trivia, (whom he called “Jamie”), boasted of being recognized by a now-deceased contestant India Cooper, and beat host Ken, 49, at a trivia convention.

This persona didn’t go over well, nor did his fiendish buzzer technique or failure to clap for his spirited victor Katie Palumbo.

Yogesh then proceeded to post online rants slamming fans, the culture of Jeopardy!, and his peers the next week.

He wrote in part: “Jeopardy has not nor will ever be the Olympics of quizzing. Jeopardy is not the problem, its centrality to American quizzing culture is.

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

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.”

Some fans thought Yogesh would be banned for good – instead, he’s now a finalist in its most esteemed tournament.

On Monday, March 11, Luigi de Guzman (3 wins) faces Brian Henegar (3 wins) and Troy Meyer (6 wins) for the last finals slot.

As one social media put it: “If Troy Meyer wins the last semifinal match, I PRAY that either HIM or Ben Chan wins.

“That way, they can teach Yogesh Raut a lesson on humility he can learn the hard way and make him apologize to viewers for his poor sportsmanship.”

The finals will begin on Tuesday, March 12, and conclude mid-March.

The first-to-three finals means the top three contestants could duke it out over three games or up to seven.

The champion earns $250,000, a championship belt, and an invite to the next Jeopardy! Masters in May and serious bragging rights.

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Emily responded on Reddit: ‘I didn’t hear it, wouldn’t care if I had. Yogesh was nothing but friendly’Credit: Jeopardy!

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Yogesh wound up winning the game in a runaway and is now a ToC finalistCredit: Jeopardy!

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Other fans reacted: ‘I don’t care about the friendship bracelet. I’ll never forget him muttering “Prussian Blue”Credit: Jeopardy!