‘Jeopardy! Masters’ Fans Think James Holzhauer Can Save the Show
Many Jeopardy! Masters fans agree that the tournament lacked one thing this year — James Holzhauer. The season’s ratings took a nose dive compared to the last two when Holzhauer appeared on both.
The 2025 tournament feaured 2024 Masters champion Victoria Groce, returning finalist Yogesh Raut, 2025 Jeopardy! Tournament of Champions winner Neilesh Vinjamuri, TOC finalists Adriana Harmeyer and Isaac Hirsch, 2025 Jeopardy! Invitational Tournament champion Matt Amodio, JIT finalists Roger Craig and Juveria Zaheer, and one of the biggest Jeopardy! winners of all-time Brad Rutter, who hadn’t been on the Alex Trebek stage since 2020.
Holzhauer won Season 1, so he was invited back for Season 2. He was also in the top three on Season 2, so he was asked back for Season 3 but declined. During the April Live Jeopardy! Tour, the game show‘s bosses Michael Davies and Sarah Whitcomb-Foss shared that he was invited back, but said he was going to sit this one out.
“As always, our top three Masters are guaranteed an invitation to the next Masters,” Whitcomb-Foss said. “But, that might leave you wondering, there is another Master — our third-place finisher James Holzhauer. As we mentioned, it is an invitational tournament. We absolutely did extend the invitation to James, and he decided for this year, he was not going to compete.”
“Absolutely his right,” Davies said. “It’s an invitational. We invite the people we want to invite. We extended it to nine people this year to build more equity. We completely respect James’ decision.”
Holzhauer’s absence might have been a factor in the drastic ratings decline. As of June 5, 2025, Jeopardy! Masters had 3.394 million viewers tune in to the final episode, which was a 3.58 percent decrease from the semi-final game on the same night, according to Neilsen. The semi-finals had a 74.17 percent increase in viewers with 3.52 million people watching compared to the week before, which had 2.021 million viewers.
However, these ratings are startling when looking at 2024’s viewership. With one less episode, Season 2 brought in 4.564 million viewers during its finale, which was the highest-watched episode that season. And the viewership gradually increased after the fifth episode.
Many fans said that the time change from 8pm to 9pm could have been a factor as well as the show being too long (30 minutes for the syndicated version vs. one hour for the tournament).
But, some Reddit users said that Holzhauer’s presence would have made the game more exciting. “If they do this again, I’d imagine they’ll pay extra for James to appear beyond the normal award. Which I’d assume is what he was (and 100% should’ve been) holding out for this year. He’s a TV star with an agent, no real reason for him to not do like the celebs do for Celebrity Jeopardy! and negotiate a salary, with the possibility he’d earn even more if he won,” one fan said.
“I do think James coming back would help it a lot, but that’s entirely his call and he may be defaulted to JIT,” wrote another.
“James and Victoria are just so much better than the other players that the inevitability of their victories just seems boring,” a third said.
“I really hope James comes back next year, but Masters is my favorite ‘post-season’ event by far and I can’t wait for next year!” a fan on another thread commented.
“This season would have been better if James was a part of it. He’s always bring the fun,” one fan added.
“James kicked everyone’s butts in Season 1,” another wrote.
“Bring back James Holzhauer!” one last fan said.
Jeopardy! Masters, Season 3, now streaming on Hulu
Conversation20 Comments
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The minute I saw the picture of Yogesh, I immediately decided that I would NOT watch it! He blasted the show after his first run, so why would the producers give him another chance to do it again??? Additionally, he is simply very obnoxious!! James may be a little "over the top" sometimes, but he is grateful to be there, is very entertaining to watch and I love the organizations he supports - he's all about children and their opportunities for education.
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Yes, obnoxious
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C
Can’t stand him. He’s so ungrateful.
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B
Two words why ratings might have been down: Yogesh Raut. He is so off-putting and arrogant that I can't stand to watch him.
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I hated seeing him beat Victoria Groce, then had the audacity to talk trash about Jennings & the show. I hope they never extend an invitation to him again.
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Watching yogesh play is annoying. He comes off as being conceited and his buzzer playing is awful
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I’m tired of Matt and his “What’s”. Can’t he play like everyone else…
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What's funny, I have noted other players adopting that habit; one who was on the show yesterday did just so.
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I won't watch Yogesh..... period.
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Ratings went down because Yogesh Raut
was on. He is so annoying using the
buzzer. Hopefully, this was the last time
he is on. He was so wrong when he criticized Ken Jennings. Ken handles the
show Great!
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Quiz shows are intrinsically just entertainment. Yogesh Raut, although a good quizzer, is annoying, egotistical and has no charisma. I skipped the Masters this year because I didn't want to watch him holding his buzzer up in the air, furiously pounding it even after someone else has already buzzed in.
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M
cutting your balls off is more fun than watching this turd again.
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you do that.
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While the host and the contestants who appear have a significant impact on the show, I still believe the worsening of this year's Master is primarily due to BOTH poor schedule, with later rounds airing intermittently, AND confusing selection of qualified candidates, which is inconsistent with the previous 2 seasons.
Starting last year, it was clear that the TOC winner and JIT winner get direct entry into the Masters, and it appeared that last year's TOC and JIT finalists weren't qualified. This year, however, felt wrong. How is it possible for the TOC finalists to enter, along with all 3 JIT Finalists?
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Even though he already won big in regular season, Chris appear to be less favored for whatever reason; would like to see him be selected for the next JIT. If Matt, Roger, and/or Brad won't be in the next JIT, then Chris' chances of at least, entering the JIT finals, is likely.
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Sam is such a gentleman i watch the show faithfully. Great contestants
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I think they need to stick to new faces, new winners. Love some of these folks but it (returning them to the game time & again) has become too "BTDT."
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No more Brad Rutter. He's just not that good anymore. The three finalists this year were beyond boring. James, Bucky, and I can't remember his name the guy that had to sit the entire game. No one cares about the most wins. They want personalities.
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Too much is too much. Jeopardy has become devalued currency at this point.
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I hate watching James Holzhower.I won't watch if he's on..He's a narcissist,and egomaniac, and a fake. He has a fake smile. I'm tired of seeing the exact same people in the tournaments especially the Masters. Get entirely new people. It's boring seeing the same old masters.And I've been watching the show since it's beginning in the 60's. James just wants fame and he's a entitled person. Get rid of him
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