On Monday, January 16, Yogesh Raut’s 3-day win streak got here to an finish. The Illinois native competed admirably however in the end misplaced to Katie Palumbo, a museum interpreter from New York. Nonetheless, as an alternative of sending the Raut off with well-wishes, some followers declared that they weren’t keen on the podcaster. On-line, sure followers criticized Raut for showing to be unsportsmanlike throughout his current loss.
Nonetheless, Raut isn’t taking the criticisms mendacity down. In a Fb submit {that a} fan re-posted to the Jeopardy! subreddit, Raut expresses his disappointment with how followers interpreted his habits. First, he notes that some viewers thought he was too critical and asserts that he made a number of “deliberate attempts to have fun” and sometimes earned massive laughs from the viewers doing so.
He additionally takes on folks’s criticisms of his “not dressing formally enough.” As Raut explains,the Jeopardy! wardrobe division was chargeable for selecting his garments, and it was unfair to critique him personally for what he was sporting—which you’ll be able to see beneath.
Then, Raut will get to the meat of his assertion. “Let’s talk here about the criticisms of my ‘sportsmanship,”” Raut begins. “At the end of my first episode, I can very audibly be heard saying ‘Good game’ to the player at the podium next to me. I would have said the same thing to the other player, except the J! set makes it impossible to communicate with the person two podiums (podia?) over from you.”
Raut notes that he did the identical factor on the finish of his second recreation, however his audio was muted. He provides that still-existing COVID measures make it even tougher for him to speak together with his opponents. Earlier than COVID, Raut factors out, it was widespread for contestants to shake palms on the finish of the sport. Now, bodily contact is closely discouraged.
Lastly, Raut addresses his closing Jeopardy! recreation. Based on Raut, simply because he didn’t congratulate Palumbo on digicam, folks shouldn’t assume he didn’t give her his well-wishes off-camera. “[Jeopardy!] is shot in an assembly-line fashion, and contestants get separated and whisked away fairly quickly,” Raut notes earlier than explaining that, earlier than he was escorted out, he went as much as Palumbo to congratulate her personally.
All of that is to say that Raut is urging followers to not choose contestants so shortly. The reality is, as viewers members, we solely witness a small portion of the contestants’ interactions. Whereas we develop to care about so many of those folks and root for them to win, we definitely don’t know them properly sufficient to criticize them as folks.