Ken Jennings

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Ken Jennings

Born Kenneth Wayne Jennings III
May 23, 1974 (1974-05-23) (age 34)
Edmonds, Washington
Occupation Software engineer
74-time Jeopardy! champion
Author
This article is about the Jeopardy! champion. For other people with the same name, see Ken Jennings (disambiguation).

Kenneth Wayne Jennings III (born May 23, 1974) holds the record for the longest winning streak on the U.S. syndicated game show Jeopardy! Jennings won 74 games before he was defeated by challenger Nancy Zerg on his 75th appearance. His total earnings on Jeopardy! are US $3,022,700 ($2,520,700 in winnings, a $2,000 2nd-place prize in his 75th appearance, and $500,000 in the Jeopardy! Ultimate Tournament of Champions).[1] Jennings held the record for most winnings on any game show ever until the end of the Ultimate Tournament of Champions (first aired on May 25, 2005), when he was displaced by Brad Rutter, who defeated Jennings in that tournament.

After winning, he began working on a book, Brainiac: Adventures in the Curious, Competitive, Compulsive World of Trivia Buffs, which explored American trivia history and culture. Ken also appeared as a member of the mob (sitting at podium #13) on the game show 1 vs. 100 in 2006, and in 2007 Jennings was the champion of the first season of the US version of Grand Slam.

Contents

[edit] Biography

Born in Edmonds, Washington, Jennings grew up in Seoul, South Korea (1981–1992) and Singapore (1992–1996), where his father worked for an international law firm and then as Asia Pacific Division Counsel of Oracle Corporation.[2] He watched Jeopardy! on American Forces Network television while growing up.[3]

Jennings graduated with a degree in Computer Science and English at Brigham Young University, where he played on the school's quizbowl team for three and a half years. He graduated from Seoul Foreign School where he completed an International Baccalaureate diploma, and achieved honors at Brigham Young.[citation needed] Jennings attended the University of Washington during his freshman year.[4]

Jennings is a Mormon, a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He served a two-year mission in Madrid, Spain from 1993 to 1995.

Now residing just outside Seattle, Washington, Jennings identifies himself as an avid comic book and movie buff with a website listing his top 4,000 favorite movies. He also writes questions for, edits the literature and mythology categories of questions of, and is otherwise active in the National Academic Quiz Tournaments (NAQT), a quiz bowl organization[5]; in particular, he moderated (i.e. read questions) at the 2005 and 2006 NAQT National High School Tournaments in Chicago.

During his Jeopardy! winning streak, Jennings was a software engineer for CHG Healthcare[2], a healthcare-placement firm in Salt Lake City, Utah.

He and his wife Mindy [3] have a son, Dylan, born in 2003, and a daughter, Caitlin, born in 2006.[6]

[edit] Streak on Jeopardy!

Each game of Jeopardy! he played, Jennings varied the style of his display name with which he signed in. Here, a small sampling of some of the designs he used are shown.
Each game of Jeopardy! he played, Jennings varied the style of his display name with which he signed in. Here, a small sampling of some of the designs he used are shown.

Before 2003, Jeopardy! contestants were limited to five consecutive games. At the beginning of the show's twentieth season (in 2003), the rules were changed to allow contestants to remain on the show as long as they continued to win.[7] After this rule change, and until Jennings's run, the record winning streak was set by Tom Walsh, who won $186,900 in eight games in January 2004.[8]

Jennings had long prepared for Jeopardy! by competing on BYU's Quiz Bowl Team. Jennings also studied the book How to Get on Jeopardy! and Win by 1996 Jeopardy! Tournament of Champions winner Michael Dupee. Jennings's run began during Jeopardy!'s 20th season with the episode aired on Wednesday, June 2, 2004, and continued into Season 21. The 2004 Tournament of Champions (aired from September 20, 2004 through October 1, 2004) was taped without his participation, as he was not yet defeated. (In theory, if Jennings had remained undefeated through the 2004-2005 season, there would not have been a Tournament of Champions for that season because Jennings would have been the sole champion.)

On November 30, 2004, Jennings' long reign as Jeopardy! champion ended when he lost his seventy-fifth game to challenger Nancy Zerg.[9] Heading into Final Jeopardy, the third contestant, David Hankins, had a negative score and thus was not allowed to participate. Jennings responded incorrectly to both Double Jeopardy! Daily Doubles, losing him a combined $10,400 because of his high wagers, and the Final Jeopardy! clue, which lost him an additional $5,601. The Final Jeopardy! category was Business & Industry, and the clue was "Most of this firm's 70,000 seasonal white-collar employees work only 4 months a year". The correct response was "What is H&R Block?"; Jennings responded with "What is FedEx?"

Zerg responded correctly, and she and Jennings shook hands and hugged as the audience gave him a standing ovation. Immediately after she won, Alex Trebek dubbed her a "giant-killer" for her accomplishment of finally beating the long-standing champ. Jennings's final total, along with his consolation prize for finishing in second place, was $2,522,700. Jennings' running time period totaled 182 calendar days, including his first and last appearances.

Jennings said in an interview that the loss was "no fluke" and that Zerg was a formidable opponent.[citation needed] She was defeated the following day, finishing in third place with $2.

Along the way, Jennings defeated at least three contestants who are current quiz bowl players; Matt Bruce, a fellow NAQT quiz question editor, was selected to appear on the show during Jennings's run, but, as someone with more than a casual acquaintance with Jennings, could not compete against him because of standards and practices rules.[3]

On December 1, 2004, the show broke with tradition by having Jennings make a "guest appearance" at the start of the broadcast, during which host Alex Trebek acknowledged his success and enumerated the various game show records he had broken.

[edit] Ratings impact

According to the Nielsen TV National People Meter, Jeopardy!'s ratings were 22% higher during Jennings's run than they were during the same period the previous year. For several weeks of the winnings streak, Jeopardy! was ranked as TV's highest-rated syndicated program.[10] By the end of Jeopardy!'s 20th season several weeks later, the show had surpassed Wheel of Fortune in the ratings (the first time any show had displaced Wheel as the highest rated syndicated television show since 1984[citation needed]), but Wheel, which is usually paired with Jeopardy! in programming, also benefited from Jennings's streak.[11]

[edit] Other media appearances

Jennings has received a good deal of American media coverage. After his 31st win on Jeopardy!, during the summer break between tapings, Jennings made a guest appearance on Live with Regis and Kelly. There Jennings revealed that he had failed to qualify for Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, once hosted by Regis Philbin. During that guest appearance, Jennings said, "Jeopardy! is a man's game... it's not like Millionaire."[12]

Jennings appeared on The Late Show with David Letterman to present Letterman's "Top Ten List." He appeared again on the program on the night his final show was televised, in addition to interview segments airing that night on local 11 p.m. news programming and on Nightline. Barbara Walters selected Jennings as one of the "Ten Most Fascinating People of 2004" for her twelfth annual ABC News special, which aired on December 8, 2004. While on his media tour following his final game, Jennings taped a segment for a future episode of Sesame Street. TV Guide featured a segment of "The Top Ten TV Moments of 2004", in which Ken Jennings' loss placed third.

A&E aired on December 1, 2004 an episode of the Biography television program on Jennings and other Jeopardy! notables, including Frank Spangenberg and Eddie Timanus.

He also appeared twice on NPR's Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me program. In his Feb. 25, 2006 appearance he answered all three questions correctly leading him to say "This is, this is the proudest moment of my game show life."[4]

In 2006, Jennings was a celebrity member of the Mob on 1 vs. 100, beginning with its October 13 premiere. He was eliminated on October 20 when he missed a question about roulette, leaving with winnings of $741.29 (part of a $35,000 prize shared among 49 Mob members). He made another appearance on February 9, 2007 on a special episode that brought back a number of notable mob members for a winner-take-all showdown; there, he was eliminated from the final five on a question about which celebrity had had the most marriages. If he had won this tournament, his $100,000 prize for winning Grand Slam would have returned Ken to first place in the game show winnings world.

Jennings is the champion of the 2007 US version of Grand Slam, a single elimination tournament among top quiz show contestants.

[edit] After Jeopardy!

When asked what he intended to do with his winnings, Jennings said that he intended to tithe ten percent to his church, donate to public television and National Public Radio, go on a trip to Europe, and invest the rest for his family.[citation needed] Jeopardy! contestants typically receive their winnings approximately 120 days after their last game airs in the form of a check.[citation needed] Taking advantage of its notoriety from the crucial clue, H&R Block offered Jennings free financial services for the rest of his life.[13] H&R Block senior vice president David Byers estimated that Jennings would owe approximately $1.04 million in taxes on his winnings. Combined with a ten percent tithe, this would leave him approximately $1,230,430 to use for other purposes.

According to Variety.com, Jennings and television producer Michael Davies teamed up as executive producers on a new game show format for Comedy Central. According to Comedy Central execs, it was planned that Jennings would co-host and participate.[14] The series was planned to air in late 2005 or the first quarter of 2006, but as of April 2006, development had stalled, and the show's future remains uncertain. Jennings explained on his website that "Stephen Colbert's show was doing so well in its post-Daily Show spot that Comedy Central decided they weren't in the market for a quiz show anymore." However, he is still shopping for a network for a potential game show titled, "Ken Jennings vs. the Rest of the World."[15]

Jennings later appeared as a guest on The Colbert Report in September 2006.

Jennings has written two books, both published by the Villard imprint of Random House. The first, Brainiac: Adventures in the Curious, Competitive, Compulsive World of Trivia Buffs (2006, ISBN 1-4000-6445-7, trade paperback ISBN 0-8129-7499-9) details his experiences on Jeopardy! and his research into trivia culture conducted after the completion of his run.[3] The second, Ken Jennings's Trivia Almanac: 8,888 Questions in 365 Days (released in January 2008, ISBN 0-345-59997-2), is a compilation of trivia questions.

Jennings also has a column in Mental Floss magazine, in which readers give him two wildly different things and he has to connect them in exactly six moves, much in the same vein as the Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon.[16]

Ken Jennings also appeared on the NBC game show 1 vs. 100 on October 13, 2006 as a mob member. Ken was a mob member until he lost on the second episode. The question Ken Jennings answered incorrectly was "What color is the number 1 space on a standard roulette wheel?" While the correct answer is red, Jennings answered black.[17] Jennings also appeared in a special "Last Man Standing" episode of the show on February 9, 2007. He was eliminated on the final question, where he was asked who of a selection of three people were married the most times. He answered King Henry VIII, while the correct answer was Larry King. This episode was the first time Jennings had a chance at a rematch against rival Brad Rutter. After waiting three years, Jennings finally beat Rutter by making it to the final 5, whereas Rutter only lasted to top 25.

Grand Slam History
Championships: 2007 Grand Slam*
First appearance: 2007 Grand Slam*
Winnings: $100,000

In Summer 2007 Jennings appeared as a contestant on the game show Grand Slam hosted by Dennis Miller and Amanda Byram. The show debuted on GSN on August 4, 2007, and featured sixteen former game-show winners in a single-elimination tournament. Jennings, the second seed in the 16-player tournament, won the competition and became the 2007 Grand Slam Champion after defeating Ogi Ogas in the finals. (Ogas had defeated Rutter in an earlier round.)

[edit] Blog entry misinterpreted as critical of Jeopardy!

Jennings made the news in July 2006 when a news article[18] was published claiming that he was critical of Jeopardy! on his blog.[19] Citing statements that he wrote there, the article focuses on his "criticism" of the show and host Alex Trebek.

"Nobody knows he died in that fiery truck crash a few years back and was immediately replaced with the Trebektron 4000 (I see your engineers still can't get the mustache right, by the way)."
"You're like the Dorian Gray of syndication. You seem to think 'change' means replacing a blue polyethylene backdrop with a slightly different shade of blue polyethylene backdrop every presidential election or so."[20]

However, the article failed to quote obviously satirical sections of Ken's blog post, such as the following:

Fourth, why are there no physical challenges? It doesn’t have to be Nickelodeon déclassé, buckets of green ooze falling from the ceiling. It could be tasteful and restrained. Like, if you know the answer, you have to run from your podium to the game board, jump up to touch the clue in question, and give the answer. “What is an Arby-Q?” Then you run back to your podium to select again. Some of these contestants, frankly, could use the exercise. Oh, also, there are angry bees.[19]

Jennings responded on his blog saying,

"...there’s no way I was genuinely calling for angry bees and ventriloquist’s dummies to be added to the Jeopardy! format. It’s a humor piece, and one which gets its laughs from the outrageous non sequiturs it proposes, not the ripeness of its target for criticism."[21]

Jennings had already posted a more serious comment on Trebek that remains on his website:

"The first thing you notice is that the seriousness-to-the-point-of-pomposity thing that he does on air is mostly a put-on. In person, he's a lot looser, prone to little jokes, accents, snippets of song and even soft-shoe. Like Alex or dislike him, you have to admit that he has one of the toughest jobs in show business—reading 61 clues flawlessly while running a fast-paced game show is an amazingly difficult task—yet he's made it look easy, every weekday for the last two decades. So ease up on the Trebek-hatin', y'all."[22]

Jennings also appeared on The Colbert Report on September 14, 2006. During the interview, Colbert discussed Jennings' book, Brainiac and mocked him not knowing how many pages the book contained. After Colbert coined a word to describe intellectual nerdiness, poindexterity. Jennings stated that after winning on Jeopardy!, he ceased to be a "poindexter". Jennings noted, as he had done earlier that day on NPR's Talk of the Nation that since his streak, people "seem to have an extra-hard trivia question" in case they run into him. In keeping with his hyper-American TV personality, Colbert asked how Jennings could stand Alex Trebek, a Canadian. Jennings jokingly responded that "Trebek did not smell of" his native country.[citation needed]

[edit] American Crossword Puzzle Tournament

Jennings also won the rookie division of the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament (ACPT) in 2006.[23] In his first time competing, Jennings placed 37th overall.

[edit] Ultimate Tournament of Champions

On December 28, 2004, Sony announced a 15-week, 75-show Jeopardy! Ultimate Tournament of Champions. It featured Tournament of Champions, College Championship, and Teen Tournament winners from the show's 21-year run, as well as over 100 five-time champions. Jeopardy!'s executive producer, Harry Friedman, explained:

"The 2003 rule change, which allows Jeopardy! players to keep playing until they're defeated, raised the question about how other five-time champions might have played under this rule. This tournament is an opportunity to give those past champions another chance to shine."

The field totaled 145 players, including Jennings, who unlike the other competitors, was automatically placed in the finals. The Ultimate Tournament of Champions offered a substantial purse, with a grand prize of $2,000,000 to the winner, $500,000 for the first runner-up, and $250,000 for the second runner-up. Guaranteed prize money was offered to all contestants.

In the final round of the Ultimate Tournament, Brad Rutter decisively defeated Jennings and Jerome Vered, with respective final scores of $62,000, $34,599, and $20,600. Jennings won the $500,000 prize for second place, but as a result of the Ultimate Tournament, Rutter displaced him as the highest overall winner of money on a game show. Jennings has said he is still happy with his second-place finish.

[edit] Records

During his streak, Jennings broke the following records:

Description Current Record Previous Record
Most consecutive appearances on Jeopardy! 75 episodes (74 wins, 1 loss) 8 episodes (7 wins, 1 loss) by Tom Walsh, January 5–14, 2004
Most consecutive appearances on a syndicated game show 46 episodes (43 wins, 4 ties, 1 loss - more than one game could be played on an episode, and some games were part of two episodes) by Thom McKee on Tic Tac Dough, 1980
Most total appearances on Jeopardy!, including tournaments 78 episodes (including Ultimate Tournament of Champions) 16 episodes by Bob Verini, 1986–2002 (regular season-5x, Tournament of Champions-4x, Super Jeopardy!-3x, Masters Tournament-4x)
Highest total winnings on Jeopardy! in non-tournament play* US$2,520,700 US$184,900 by Tom Walsh, January 5–13, 2004

US$102,597 (adjusted to $205,194) by Frank Spangenberg, January 9–15, 1990 (prior to increase in clue value)
Highest total winnings in one game of Jeopardy! US$75,000 (game 38) US$52,000 by Brian Weikle, April 14, 2003 (Jennings intentionally tied this record three times before he broke it[24])

US$34,000 (adjusted to $68,000) by Jerome Vered, May 21, 1992 (prior to 2001 increase in clue value)
Highest 5-game total on Jeopardy!, consecutive US$221,200 (games 34–38) US$154,200 by Tom Walsh (games 3–7), January 7–13, 2004

US$102,597 (adjusted to $205,194) by Frank Spangenberg, January 9–15, 1990 (prior to increase in clue value)
Highest 5-game total on Jeopardy!, best 5 games US$286,099 (games 28, 29, 37, 38, and 71)
*Not included in these totals is a $2,000 consolation prize Jennings and Walsh each received for finishing in second place at the end of their respective runs. Spangenberg only received $75,000 of his winnings due to an earnings cap in effect at the time; the balance went to charity.

He also tied the following records:

Description Current Record
Most consecutive appearances on a game show 75 episodes by Ian Lygo on 100%, 1998*
Most opponents defeated on a game show 150 by Ian Lygo on 100%, 1998**

Five game show records remained that Jennings did not tie or break:

Description Current Record
Most wins on a single game show 75 times by Ian Lygo on 100%, 1998* (although including the Tournament of Champions, Ken won 75 times)
Most consecutive wins on a game show 75 times by Ian Lygo on 100%, 1998*
Most opponents defeated consecutively on a game show 150 by Ian Lygo on 100%, 1998**
Most games played on a game show 89 by Thom McKee on Tic Tac Dough, 1980 (43 wins, 2 losses, 44 ties, includes Tournament of Champions appearance.)
Highest 5-game total on Jeopardy!, first 5 games (adjusted) US$205,194 (adjusted from US$102,597) by Frank Spangenberg, January 9–15, 1990 (after increase in clue value)

* Lygo was forced to retire by producer RTL Group.

** In 100%, Lygo faced two opponents per game. Jennings bested 149 opponents during his tenure, and a 150th opponent -- Jerome Vered -- in tournament play.

The following records, having been set by Ken Jennings, have now been broken by others:

Description Current Record Previous Record
Highest total earnings on Jeopardy! US$3,255,102 by Brad Rutter, May 25, 2005 (Does not include value of two 2000 Chevrolet Camaro coupes he won as a five-time champion.) US$2,522,700 by Ken Jennings*
Highest total earnings on any game show
Highest 5-game total on Jeopardy!, first 5 games (unadjusted) US$179,797 by Larissa Kelly, May 26, 2008 US$156,000 by Ken Jennings
*Not included in Jennings's total is the $500,000 he earned at the same time as Rutter earned $2,000,000 in the Ultimate Tournament of Champions to set the new record. Jennings has an overall game-show winnings total of $3,123,414.29, including $714.29 in winnings from 1 vs 100, where he was a one of 49 members of the mob on the October 20, 2006 episode which split $35,000 in winnings when a contestant answered a question incorrectly, and $100,000 from his appearance on GSN's Grand Slam, in which he finished first.

Jennings was not eligible for the 2006 Tournament of Champions. By accepting a bye into the Ultimate Tournament of Champions, Jennings was guaranteed $250,000. This bye also required that he give up his right to play in the 2006 Tournament of Champions.[citation needed] Rutter's total of $3,255,102 includes $55,102 in his five days and $3,000,000 in special tournament play, but does not include his two Chevrolet Camaros he won on the game.

Jennings now has defeated more opponents on game shows than any opponent; he defeated 150 Jeopardy! contestants, defeated a player on 1 vs. 100 as a member of the Mob, and defeated four opponents on Grand Slam, for a total of 155 players defeated on game shows by Jennings.

[edit] Game summaries

Comprehensive game summaries for each day of Ken Jennings' streak have been compiled here.

[edit] Loss on Jeopardy! and final statistics

In a rumor disclosed on Wednesday, September 8, 2004, two sources who were at the taping on September 7, 2004 reported that Jennings had lost on his 75th episode, taped the day before, with total winnings at around $2.5 million.[25] (Jeopardy! tapes five shows per day.) This incident was reported by TV Week and the Associated Press, appearing in hundreds of newspapers across the United States. A few days later, another rumor spread giving out an incorrect first name of the contestant who had beaten him. Despite this, Jeopardy! refused to comment.

It was later determined that Jennings had indeed lost as initially reported, with the failing episode shown in most North American cities on Tuesday, November 30, 2004.

To make it more difficult for viewers to keep track of Ken's progress towards his final episode, in early September 2004 the show's announcer, Johnny Gilbert, ceased mentioning the number of games that Jennings had won, as had been the show's custom. However, some people in the studio audience reported that he was still announcing them, possibly meaning those parts had been edited out of the airing. In any case, during the 74th game, which aired on Monday, November 29, Gilbert resumed announcing the number of games.

Jennings broke almost every game show record in his run. Ian Lygo appeared on the British game show 100% 75 consecutive times and won every game until he was forced to retire by the show's producers. After Jennings' 75th show, he tied Lygo's record of 75 consecutive appearances and, with 74 wins, he almost reached Lygo's record of 75 consecutive game show wins.

[edit] Endorsements

Jennings’ success has resulted in him being a popular individual amongst corporations looking for public endorsers.

H&R Block, the firm named in the answer he missed, announced in a press release[26] that they were offering him a deal for free tax preparation and financial services for the rest of his life. According to H&R Block, Jennings could pay over $1.045 million alone in taxes,[13][27] more than any quiz show contestant.

Jennings has also agreed to a deal with Microsoft to promote their Encarta encyclopedia software.

He is also engaged in speaking deals through the Massachusetts-based speakers agency, American Program Bureau.

University Games produced a Can You Beat Ken? board game, in which players vie against each other and Jennings in an attempt to earn $2.6 million first. Each question in the game was asked to Jennings, and his answers are recorded on the cards.

The-then SBC Communications and BellSouth cellular telecommunications joint venture Cingular Wireless (now owned by AT&T) signed Jennings to appear in commercials. The first of these commercials, portraying Jennings as having lots of "friends and family" (coming out of the woodwork, because he is now "stinking rich") started airing in February, 2005.

Ken Jennings also appeared on commercials for Allstate Insurance. Also starring Dennis Haysbert, the advertisements parody a typical Final Jeopardy! situation, and parody Ken's usual style of guessing at answers by having him answer the question in a humorous, over-the-top inquisitive fashion.

Comedy Central had announced that they had inked a deal for Ken to host a new game show on their network, likely to begin sometime in 2006. According to Ken Jennings' website, the proposed program was to follow The Daily Show, but due to the success of The Colbert Report, Comedy Central decided against doing a quiz show. Jennings hopes that the show, "...modestly titled Ken Jennings vs. the Rest of the World", will be produced for some other network.[28]

[edit] Ken Jennings in pop culture

  • On an episode of the FOX sketch comedy Mad TV, Alex Trebek, played by Ike Barinholtz, urges the other contestants to buzz in before Jennings, played by Ron Pederson. Trebek is so fed up with Jennings' winning streak that he shoots the champ, who turns out to be a robot.

[edit] Trivia and trademarks

 Trivia sections are discouraged under Wikipedia guidelines.
The article could be improved by integrating relevant items and removing inappropriate ones.
  • During game 53 of his streak, Jennings was given the clue "This term for a long-handled gardening tool can also mean an immoral pleasure seeker." Without missing a beat, Jennings replied, "What's a ho(e)?" Trebek replied "No", caught the audience's laughter, and said, "Whoa, whoa, whoa! They teach you that in school in Utah, huh?" (The correct response was "What is a rake?")
  • On ESPN's Pardon the Interruption, Jennings was often referred to by panelists Tony Kornheiser and Michael Wilbon as "Ken Jeopardy", and his success was noted on the show at milestone points, such as when he reached 50 straight wins and $1 million. Also, on ESPN's SportsCenter, Several of his early wins were recorded in the show's daily "Top 10" plays segment.
  • He kept a plush "Totoro" toy from the movie My Neighbor Totoro in his pocket as a good luck charm.
  • During his college speaking tour, he admitted that the strangest fan gift he ever received was Popo, a stuffed pillow.

During his Jeopardy! appearances, Jennings became known for several quirky behaviors:

  • He often pronounced foreign words, phrases, or locations with an accent.
  • He frequently would give answers in clever ways. Examples include "What are the munchies, man?" when given a clue about midnight food cravings, and "What be Ebonics?" On his final episode, his response to "A Category about Nothing" in Spanish was, "¿Qué es nada?"
  • On Final Jeopardy and the Daily Doubles he almost always wagered an amount that could bring his total to an even multiple of $5,000 (an even multiple of $10,000 if he wanted to risk that much or that little money). Alex commented on this several times, and he even occasionally guessed what wager Jennings would make.
  • Prior to his 30th game, Jennings did not want to beat the $52,000 single-day record of former five-day champion Brian Weikle just "for the sake of beating it" (from the Jeopardy! forums). Jennings intentionally tied Weikle's record three times. However, in his 38th game, Jennings entered Final Jeopardy with a total only $600 shy of the record (and, in fact, had exceeded the record in the Double Jeopardy! round before missing a question at the end), and beat it with a final total of $75,000. On his 71st game, he surpassed the former record a second time with a win of $55,099. On three other occasions (in his 30th, 39th, and 67th games), Jennings bet enough on Final Jeopardy that a correct response would have given him a total of more than $52,000, but he provided an incorrect response.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ J! Archive Ken Jennings player page
  2. ^ ColterJennings attorneys list
  3. ^ a b c Jennings, Mike (2006). Brainiac: Adventures in the Curious, Competitive, Compulsive World of Trivia Buffs. Random House. ISBN 1-4000-6445-7. 
  4. ^ About Ken. Ken Jennings. Retrieved on 2006-07-15.
  5. ^ [1]
  6. ^ Brainiac’s daughter Ken Jennings. Retrieved on 2006-11-14.
  7. ^ King World (2003-09-04). ""JEOPARDY!" PREMIERES MILESTONE 20TH ANNIVERSARY SEASON SEPTEMBER 8, 2003: America’s Favorite Quiz Show Launches Season 20 With Many Exciting and Historic "Firsts"". Press release. Retrieved on 2006-11-29.
  8. ^ Tom Walsh game 8 on the JEOPARCHIVE!
  9. ^ J! Archive - Show #4657 - Tuesday, November 30, 2004
  10. ^ King World (2004-11-30). ""JEOPARDY!" STREAK OVER: Ken Jennings Loses in 75th Game, Takes Home a Record-Setting $2,520,700". Press release. Retrieved on 2007-03-07.
  11. ^ Kimberly Speight (August 4, 2004). 'Jeopardy!' Caps Season on Winning Streak. Retrieved on 2006-11-29.
  12. ^ Transcript of Ken Jennings's appearance on Live with Regis and Kelly
  13. ^ a b Roth, Stephen. "Block offers Jeopardy! champ tax services for life", Kansas City Business Journal, American City Business Journals, 2004-11-30. Retrieved on 2006-07-07. 
  14. ^ Trivia titan gets series: Comedy, Jennings prep game (2005-05-24). Retrieved on 2006-11-29.
  15. ^ Ken Jennings (2006). FAQ: Life A.T. (After Trebek). Retrieved on 2006-06-29.
  16. ^ Mental Floss LLC. "mental_floss media kit" (PDF). Press release. Retrieved on 2006-07-20.. See sample table of contents of mental_floss magazine.
  17. ^ Transcript of 1 vs. 100 episode 2
  18. ^ Starr, Michael. "Gift Horse, Meet Ken Jennings", New York Post, 2006-07-25. Retrieved on 2006-07-25. 
  19. ^ a b Dear Jeopardy!. Ken Jennings' personal blog (2006-07-19). Retrieved on 2006-07-25.
  20. ^ "'Jeopardy' champ Jennings jabs show", CNN, 2006-07-25. Retrieved on 2006-07-25.  Copyright Associated Press.
  21. ^ Sense of humor, meet Michael Starr. Ken Jennings' personal blog (2006-07-25). Retrieved on 2006-07-25.
  22. ^ Ken Jennings' website - FAQ. Retrieved on 2006-07-25.
  23. ^ Crossed Up by the K in Connecticut. Retrieved on 2007-02-12.
  24. ^ Taylor, Lindsie. "'Jeopardy!' finishes year with Utahn going strong", Salt Lake City: Deseret Morning News, 2004-07-24. Retrieved on 2006-10-11. 
  25. ^ Some Ken Jennings News. September 9, 2004 Retrieved on January 20, 2007.
  26. ^ H&R Block (2004-11-30). "Q.: “What is H&R Block?” A.: The Company You Turn to for Tax and Financial Assistance". Press release. Retrieved on 2006-07-07.
  27. ^ "‘Jeopardy’ streak comes to end", MSNBC.com, The Associated Press, 2004-12-01. Retrieved on 2006-07-07. 
  28. ^ Ken Jennings' website - FAQ. Retrieved on 2006-08-10.

[edit] External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:

[edit] News

Preceded by
Brad Rutter		 All-time Jeopardy! champion
2004-2005		 Succeeded by
Brad Rutter
Preceded by
Kevin Olmstead		 All-time American game show winnings leader
2004-2005		 Succeeded by
Brad Rutter
Preceded by
Tom Walsh		 Biggest Jeopardy! winners by season
2004-2005		 Succeeded by
David Madden
Preceded by
Brian Weikle		 Biggest one-day winners on Jeopardy! by season
2003-2005		 Succeeded by
Maria Wenglinsky
Preceded by
First winner		 Grand Slam tournament winner
2007		 Succeeded by
Incumbent
Languages