Brad Rutter

Brad Rutter is an American game show contestant, TV host, producer, and actor. With over $5.1 million in winnings, he is currently the 2nd highest-earning American game show contestant of all time, behind Ken Jennings, and still the highest-earning contestant (primarily from special tournament events) on the U.S. syndicated game show "Jeopardy!" (with over $5 million).

Until the Greatest of All Time Tournament in 2020, Rutter had never lost a "Jeopardy!" match against a human opponent (though he twice trailed at the end of the first game of a two-day tournament match before coming back to win). This streak consisted of his original 5-day run in 2000 (after which he retired undefeated) as well as 17 matches in five tournaments (including one as part of a team)—all of which he won. Rutter finished third in the match—both his first defeat overall and the first time he finished behind a human opponent.

Shortly after James Holzhauer won the 2019 Tournament of Champions, it was announced that Rutter, Holzhauer, and Jennings would compete for $1,000,000 in the "Jeopardy! The Greatest of All-Time" special, which aired in January 2020 on ABC. This time, Ken Jennings defeated Rutter, who didn't win a single match (he was outplayed by Jennings and Holzhauer) and thus finished as the second runner-up taking home $250,000. This was his first defeat to a human opponent.

In May 2020, Rutter appeared on a revival of "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" as an in-person lifeline for celebrity contestant Catherine O'Hara. On the show, celebrities playing for charity were allowed to have an expert assist them in answering the first 10 questions—Rutter served as O'Hara's expert and helped her answer each of the 10 questions correctly. After this point, O'Hara made the decision to trade her 50:50 lifeline for the opportunity to consult Rutter once more on any of the remaining questions. She took this opportunity on the $125,000 question, which he once again helped her answer correctly. O'Hara's final total on the show was $250,000, as she chose to walk away from the $500,000 question. He was one of two "Jeopardy!" contestants to appear on the show as a lifeline, the other being Buzzy Cohen, who was a lifeline for Hannibal Burress.

In 2021, Rutter began starring as one of the chasers on ABC's game show "The Chase."