Brad Rutter Biography
Bradford Gates Rutter is an American game show contestant, TV host, producer and actor. He is the highest-earning contestant on the U.S. syndicated game show Jeopardy! He has never lost a Jeopardy! match against a human contestant.
Brad Rutter Age
Brad is 41 years old; he was born on January 31, 1978 in Lancaster, PA.
Brad Rutter IQ
Rutter’s IQ is not in the public domain.
Brad Rutter Net worth
Rutter has an estimated net worth of $4 million. He gained most of his money as a contestant on Jeopardy! with earnings totaling more than $4.5 million.
Brad Rutter Spouse – Brad Rutter Wife
Brad keeps his personal life very private, there is no information in the media regarding his private life. It is not clear whether he is married or not.
Brad Rutter Jeopardy
Rutter made his first appearance on Jeopardy! on October 30, 2000 at the age of 22. At the time the rule of the game was that a contestant who won five consecutive days retired undefeated and was guaranteed a spot in the Tournament of Champions. He retired as an undefeated 5-day champion, with $55,102 in winnings.
In 2001 he was invited to Tournament of Champion as a 5-day champion, he defeated other 5-day champions and won the $100,000 main prize. In 2002 he was invited back for the Million Dollar Masters Tournament, where he won the $1,000,000 main prize and became the largest overall money winner in Jeopardy! history.
In 2005 he returned for the Ultimate Tournament of Champions, winning the tournament and $2,100,000. He defeated Jennings and Jerome Vered in the finals, Rutter surpassed Jennings as the highest money-winner ever on American game shows.
In 2014 he participated in the Jeopardy! Battle of the Decades where he won the tournament and $1,000,000, defeating Ken Jennings and Roger Craig in the finale.
In 2019, Rutter teamed with fellow Jeopardy! champions Larissa Kelly and Dave Madden to win the Jeopardy! All-Star Games. Rutter was team captain and they split the top prize of $1,000,000.
In January 2020 he is competing in the Jeopardy! The Greatest of All Time against Jennings and James Holzhauer, and is guaranteed to win at least $250,000. He currently trails behind both Jennings and Holzhauer in a 2-1-0 lead to Jennings.
Brad Rutter Winnings
- The first five-day streak earned him $55,102
- Tournament of Champions ($250k)
- Ultimate Tournament of Champions ($2 million)
- Masters Tournament ($1 million)
- Battle of the Decades ($1 million)
How Did Brad Rutter Lose on Jeopardy
Brad did not lose to any human contestant on Jeopardy! (though he twice trailed at the end of the first game of a two-day tournament match before coming back to win). In 2011 together with Ken Jennings were routed in a two-day exhibition match against an IBM computer platform developed specifically to compete on Jeopardy! He finished third in the match. The contestant, man versus machine match, was declared an exhibition, none of the records from it count toward official show records.
Brad Rutter Eagles
Rutter is an Eagles fan, in 2014 he talked about how he watches Eagles games; “I like to watch them alone in my house. If I do go out, it’s to a local bar that has Sunday Ticket, but I definitely prefer to watch them at home. When the Eagles run the ball, my body tenses up. It’s something I never noticed until an ex-girlfriend of mine said it to me when we watched a game together one time. She actually told me this. It’s better for me to stay at the house.”
On January 9, 2020 during the Jeopardy! Greatest of All Time tournament, while wagering 4,133 points he wrote, “Eagles Super Bowl LII Champs.” The number is significant as 41-33 was the final score of the Eagles’ win over the New England Patriots in Super Bowl LII.
Brad Rutter (Lancaster, PA native and all time-highest earning Jeopardy player of all time) dropped
a Eagles SB52 and wagered $4133 in Final Jeopardy… #JeopardyGoat#FlyEaglesFly pic.twitter.com/qLHGFwpuZc— Paul C (@WentzyIvania) January 10, 2020
Brad Rutter Weight Loss
When Brad joined Jeopardy for the first time in 2000 he was overweight. The Mental Floss reported that Brad said that he gained a lot of weight leading up to Jeopardy! due to stress—partly from Jeopardy! itself and partly from the kind of stress that comes with not having very much money and therefore having to do crazy things like try out for Jeopardy!.
He lost weight the next time he made an appearance on Jeopardy. He claimed that after losing weight it doesn’t matter ” how well you do in the tournament because whether you flame out in the first round or take home the grand prize, it will be less important than the fact that you’re skinnier now.”
