Bradford Gates "Brad" Rutter (born
January 31,
1978) is best
known as a contestant on the U.S.
syndicated game
show Jeopardy!. Rutter became
an undefeated five-time champion on
Jeopardy! in 2000 and
subsequently won an unprecedented three
Jeopardy!
tournament titles: the 2001
Tournament of Champions,
the
Million Dollar
Masters Tournament, and the
Ultimate Tournament
of Champions. Following his third tournament win, in which he
defeated
Ken Jennings and
Jerome Vered in the finals, Rutter surpassed
Jennings as the
highest
money-winner ever on American game shows. Jennings subsequently
regained his record by appearing on various other game shows,
culminating in an appearance on
Are You
Smarter Than a 5th Grader? (first aired on
October 10,
2008). Rutter
retained the record for
Jeopardy! winnings with either
$3,255,102 or $3,270,102, and a pair of
Chevrolet Camaros ($55,102 in five-day
winnings, $100,000 and $1,000,000 and either $2,100,000 or
$2,115,000 (see below) in his three tournaments
respectively).
In twenty games, Rutter has never lost a match of
Jeopardy!, though he has twice trailed at the end of the
first game of a two-day match before coming back to win in the
second game — against Rick Knutsen in the finals of the 2001
Tournament of Champions, and against John Cuthbertson in the
semifinals of the Ultimate Tournament of Champions.
Winnings dispute
There is a discrepancy between sources as to Rutter's total
Jeopardy! winnings stemming from the prize structure of
the Ultimate Tournament of Champions. Different cash prize amounts
were awarded to players for finishing first, second and third in
each game, with different amounts for each round of the tournament.
Those who won the first round earned $15,000; second round winners
earned $20,000; third round winners earned $30,000; fourth round
winners earned $50,000; and Rutter earned an additional $2,000,000
for winning the tournament. Rutter was among nine top winners who
received a
bye to the second round
(
Ken Jennings was the only player to
receive a bye to the finals). It is disputed whether these "Nifty
Nine" players received $15,000 for their first-round byes.
Different sources cite Rutter's tournament winnings as $2,100,000
or $2,115,000, resulting in a winnings total of either $3,255,102
or $3,270,102, depending on whether the $15,000 is included.
Life outside Jeopardy!
Until
2007, Rutter lived in Lancaster, Pennsylvania
, where he hosted InQuizitive,
a locally broadcast quiz show for high
school students. He has also been a reader and judge for
the high school
National
Academic Championship. He now lives in Los Angeles where he is
pursuing acting.
Rutter is
a 1995 graduate of Manheim Township High School
in Neffsville, Pennsylvania
, where he was on the Quiz
Bowl team. He is one of the 19 people to have been named
to the
National Academic
Championship Hall of Fame in its 25-year history. At the 2005
Manheim Township High School graduation ceremony, he announced the
start of a scholarship fund in memory of his late high-school quiz
bowl coach.
Rutter has described himself as a "slacker" in high school and a
Johns Hopkins dropout
(while there, he studied
English and
History).
Before his success on Jeopardy!,
he worked at the Lancaster Coconuts
record store.
Other game show appearances
He appeared on the U.S. game show
1 vs.
100 (as a member of "the Mob") on December 1, 2006 and
again on December 8, 2006. He answered every question correctly and
was one of only seven mob members to survive to the next show, as
was
Annie Duke. He would eventually be
eliminated on the December 15th episode, on a question about Jewish
reggae musician
Matisyahu. He again
appeared on February 9, 2007 and was eliminated late into a
winner-takes-$250,000 "last man standing" competition, but before
Ken Jennings. Rutter was the top seed in
Grand Slam, but lost in the
second round to
Ogi Ogas, a former
Who Wants to Be a
Millionaire? contestant.
Later In Life
Rutter subsequently moved to southern California and became an
actor and TV host.
See also
References
External links
Wikis
Quiz
Map
Search
