‘Jeopardy!’ Champ Yogesh Raut Reveals Advice James Holzhauer Gave Him

Disney/Eric McCandless

Even though James Holzhauer wasn’t present for Season 3 of Jeopardy! Masters, he was still on a lot of people’s minds, including contestants’. Masters champion, Yogesh Raut, reveals he got some useful advice from previous Masters winner, Holzhauer, before entering the tournament.

Raut spoke out about his experience on Masters on Facebook. Toward the end of his post, he shared his favorite moment from the 2024 tournament. “One of my favorite moments from last year’s tournament occurred when James was asked to pose at his podium while pointing at his (third-place) total and replied, ‘No.’ Standing nearby, I said, ‘Wait, you’re allowed to do that?’ and the photography team burst into laughter. (A few moments later, when they somewhat sheepishly asked me for the same pose, I was fine with it.)”

“It was then that James gave me a key piece of advice I haven’t really followed through on — ‘You need to get comfortable with throwing your weight around; you’re one of the stars of the show now’ — before adding, with genuine modesty, ‘That’s the only note I have on your game.’”

Holzhauer won Season 1 and came in third in Season 2. He decided to sit this season out, despite being invited back due to his third-place finish. Raut came in second in Season 2 and won Season 3.

“Anyway, this time around I dutifully jumped through all the posing hoops they asked of me … until they requested that I kiss the trophy. I asked for my ‘James Holzhauer exception’ and they knew right away what I meant,” he ended.

While holding up the Alex Trebek Trophy for photos, Raut revealed that it is “really heavy” and he struggled to hold on to it and “keep it upright.” He said his opponent and second-place finisher Juveria Zaheer, said, “I want to hug you, but you’re holding the trophy!” When various people took the trophy from him, Zaheer finally got to hug him and mentioned how heavy the trophy was.

“After that happened a couple of times, a part of me wanted to be like, ‘Oh, did you think I was playacting? Or just that I have no upper-body strength?’ (When I told this story at my watch party, Suresh waggishly noted, ‘It can be both!’),” he said.

Raut also revealed a few more behind the scenes secrets that took place during the finale.

“During the break before FJ, producer Sabrina came up to us to once more go over the instructions for how we were to act when the winner was announced (including *NOT* coming off our podiums and hugging each other like we did last year). As soon as she was done, Victoria [Groce] recapped everything she said … which was good because I had not processed a single one of her words, because my mind was too busy going over every painting I’d ever seen in my life,” he shared. But, Raut wound up getting hugs afterward.

The champion also recently mentioned another thing he took away from the tournament —a bond with Isaac Hirsch, who finished in fourth place.

Jeopardy! Masters, Season 3, now streaming on Hulu