'Jeopardy: Greatest of All Time' contestants reflect on tournament, Trebek

ByGeorge Pennacchio KABC logo
Thursday, January 16, 2020
'Jeopardy!' champs talk G.O.A.T. tourney, Trebek
The three greatest "Jeopardy!" champions, Ken Jennings, Brad Rutter, James Holzhauer are reflecting on the G.O.A.T. tournament and their appreciation for Alex Trebek.

HOLLYWOOD, LOS ANGELES -- Ken Jennings, James Holzhauer and Brad Rutter competed in prime time to win $1 million and the "Jeopardy!" title "Greatest of All Time."

All three offered up some post-tournament talk. While the champs all had a blast, in the end Jennings took the title.

"I think all three of us are very experienced 'Jeopardy!' players and if you run this back 10 times, you're going to get a different winner," said Jennings. "You're never going to get the same winner twice in a row. We're not going to run it back, by the way."

"Ken came up a little bit better than I did, you know? He was absolutely a deserving champion," said Holzhauer. "Let's take absolutely nothing away from him but, you know, I played up to my standards and that is all that really mattered to me. I would have loved to win but, you know."

Rutter has been playing, and mostly winning, at "Jeopardy!" since 2000. And he says he's been careful about handling his winnings.

"I am very fortunate in that my dad and my brother are both financial advisers," said Rutter. "So my money is in very good hands and has served me well over the years."

Rutter is currently pitching a couple of sitcom ideas - and a potential game show.

"There's possibly a 'Ben Stein's Money' aspect, so we'll see how that plays out," said Rutter.

Rutter was referring to the old Comedy Central game show "Win Ben Stein's Money" in which contestants competed against the host and, to a certain extent, won money that would otherwise have gone to Stein.

One thing all three men agree on: they loved being back in the presence of Alex Trebek.

"He appreciates seeing 'Jeopardy!' played well," Jennings said. "So it's very special. It's very special, it's very poignant to have one more chance to play with Alex."

"I'm sure they're going to try and convince 'Jeopardy!' to do something again but, I don't know. Harry Friedman, the executive producer, said this was sort of a once-in-a-lifetime confluence of things happening," Rutter said. "So I don't know. We'll see. I'm always ready when they want to call me."