Kenneth Wayne Jennings III (born May 23, 1974) is an American game show host, author, and former game show contestant. He is the
highest-earning American game show contestant, having won money on five different game shows, including $4,522,700 on the U.S. game show ''
Jeopardy!
''Jeopardy!'' is an American game show created by Merv Griffin. The show is a quiz competition that reverses the traditional question-and-answer format of many quiz shows. Rather than being given questions, contestants are instead given gene ...
'' which he currently hosts, sharing duties with
Mayim Bialik
Mayim Chaya Bialik ( ; born December 12, 1975) is an American actress, game show host, and author. From 1991 to 1995, she played the title character of the NBC sitcom ''Blossom''. From 2010 to 2019, she played neuroscientist Amy Farrah Fowler on ...
.
He holds the record for the longest winning streak on ''Jeopardy!'' with 74 consecutive wins. He also holds the record for the highest average correct responses per game in ''Jeopardy!'' history (for those contestants with at least 300 correct responses) with 35.9 during his original run (no other contestant has exceeded 30) and 33.1 overall, including tournaments and special events. In 2004, he won 74 consecutive ''Jeopardy!'' games before he was defeated by challenger Nancy Zerg on his 75th appearance. His total earnings on ''Jeopardy!'' are $4,522,700, consisting of: $2,520,700 over his 74 wins; a $2,000 second-place prize in his 75th appearance; a $500,000 second-place prize in the
''Jeopardy!'' Ultimate Tournament of Champions (2005); a $300,000 second-place prize in
''Jeopardy!''s IBM Challenge (2011), when he lost to the
Watson computer but became the first person to beat third-place finisher
Brad Rutter; a $100,000 second-place prize in the
''Jeopardy!'' Battle of the Decades (2014); a $100,000 second-place prize (his share of his team's $300,000 prize) in the
''Jeopardy!'' All-Star Games (2019); and a $1 million first-place prize in the ''
Jeopardy! The Greatest of All Time
''Jeopardy! The Greatest of All Time'' was a special tournament limited-run series of the game show ''Jeopardy!'' that took place in January 2020. The tournament was produced for ABC and aired on the network in prime time. This was the first ti ...
'' (2020).
During his first run of ''Jeopardy!'' appearances, Jennings earned the record for the highest American game show winnings. His total was surpassed by Rutter, who defeated Jennings in the finals of the ''Jeopardy!'' Ultimate Tournament of Champions, adding $2 million to Rutter's existing ''Jeopardy!'' winnings. Jennings regained the record after appearing on several other game shows, culminating with his results on an October 2008 appearance on ''
Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?'', though Rutter retained the record for highest ''Jeopardy!'' winnings and once again passed Jennings' total after his victory in the ''Jeopardy!'' ''Battle of the Decades'' tournament. In 2020, he once again faced off with and won against Rutter, as well as
James Holzhauer
James Holzhauer (born August 6, 1984) is an American game show contestant and professional sports gambler. He is the third-highest-earning American game show contestant of all time and is best known for his 32-game winning streak as champion ...
, in a special primetime series, ''
Jeopardy! The Greatest of All Time
''Jeopardy! The Greatest of All Time'' was a special tournament limited-run series of the game show ''Jeopardy!'' that took place in January 2020. The tournament was produced for ABC and aired on the network in prime time. This was the first ti ...
''.
After his success on ''Jeopardy!'', Jennings wrote about his experience and explored American trivia history and culture in his book ''Brainiac: Adventures in the Curious, Competitive, Compulsive World of Trivia Buffs'', published in 2006. In September 2020, he signed on as a consulting producer of ''Jeopardy!'', a job that will include an on-air role reading categories. He held this role until the start of the show's thirty-ninth season.
Following
Alex Trebek's death on November 8, 2020, Jennings hosted ''Jeopardy!'' as the first of a series of guest hosts. His episodes aired from January 11, 2021, to February 19, 2021. Following
Mike Richards Michael Richards (born 1949) is an American actor best known for playing Cosmo Kramer in ''Seinfeld''.
Michael Richards or Mike Richards may also refer to the following people:
Arts and entertainment
*Mike Richards (television personality) (born ...
' exit early in the 2021–22 season, Jennings and
Mayim Bialik
Mayim Chaya Bialik ( ; born December 12, 1975) is an American actress, game show host, and author. From 1991 to 1995, she played the title character of the NBC sitcom ''Blossom''. From 2010 to 2019, she played neuroscientist Amy Farrah Fowler on ...
were both named hosts; Jennings’ hosting duties are exclusive to the daily syndicated series (Bialik hosts syndicated series episodes as well as primetime network specials).
Jennings will continue to split hosting duties with Bialik for the 39th season of the series.
Early life
Jennings was born on May 23, 1974, in
Edmonds, Washington
Edmonds is a city in Snohomish County, Washington, United States. It is located in the southwest corner of the county, facing Puget Sound and the Olympic Mountains to the west. The city is part of the Seattle metropolitan area and is located ...
, a suburb of
Seattle
Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...
.
His father was a lawyer employed internationally, and Jennings spent 15 years growing up in
South Korea
South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...
and
Singapore
Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...
where his father worked.
Upon returning to the United States, Jennings attended the
University of Washington
The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington.
Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seattle a ...
. Following two years as a volunteer
missionary
A missionary is a member of a Religious denomination, religious group which is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Tho ...
for
the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a Nontrinitarianism, nontrinitarian Christianity, Christian church that considers itself to be the Restorationism, restoration of the ...
, where he was assigned to serve in
Madrid
Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...
, Spain, he transferred to
Brigham Young University
Brigham Young University (BYU, sometimes referred to colloquially as The Y) is a private research university in Provo, Utah. It was founded in 1875 by religious leader Brigham Young and is sponsored by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day ...
in 1996. One of his roommates at BYU was author
Brandon Sanderson. He also played on the school's
quizbowl team, at one point serving as captain, and graduated in 2000 with a double major in English and
computer science
Computer science is the study of computation, automation, and information. Computer science spans theoretical disciplines (such as algorithms, theory of computation, information theory, and automation) to Applied science, practical discipli ...
.
Streak on ''Jeopardy!''
Before 2003, ''Jeopardy!'' contestants were limited to five consecutive wins. At the beginning of the show's 20th season (in 2003), the rules were changed to allow contestants to remain on the show as long as they continued to win. After this rule change, and until Jennings' run, the record winning streak was set by Tom Walsh, who won $186,900 in eight games in January 2004.
Jennings' run began during ''Jeopardy!'' 20th season with the episode aired on June 2, 2004, in which he unseated two-time returning champion Jerry Harvey, and continued into season 21. In that first episode, Jennings' entire winning streak nearly ended before it even began. The Final Jeopardy answer was, "She's the first female track & field athlete to win medals in five different events at a single Olympics." Jennings responded with "Who is Jones?" using only the last name of
Marion Jones
Marion Lois Jones (born October 12, 1975), also known as Marion Jones-Thompson, is an American former world champion track and field athlete and former professional basketball player. She won three gold medals and two bronze medals at the 200 ...
(who was not stripped of her medals until December 2007). Host
Alex Trebek said, "We will accept that, in terms of female athletes, there aren't that many." If the response had not been accepted, Jennings would have finished in third place, and challenger Julia Lazarus would have won the game. Jennings' run was interrupted by the off-season break (July until September), 2004
Kids' Week, the
Tournament of Champions (aired from September 20, 2004, through October 1, 2004), the
2004 United States presidential election
The 2004 United States presidential election was the 55th quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 2, 2004. The Republican ticket of incumbent President George W. Bush and his running mate incumbent Vice President Dick Chene ...
(aired on Tuesday, November 2, 2004, pushing his weeks of episodes to air from Wednesday to Saturday) and the
College Championship (aired from November 10, 2004, to November 23, 2004). As a result, he went the entire five months without a loss. He did not participate in the Tournament of Champions, as invitations are extended only to champions who have been defeated (with the exception of the winner
of the College Championship).
End of the streak
On November 30, 2004, Jennings' reign as ''Jeopardy!'' champion ended when he lost his 75th game to challenger Nancy Zerg. Jennings responded incorrectly to both Double Jeopardy! Daily Doubles, causing him to lose a combined $10,200 ($5,400 and $4,800, respectively) and leaving him with $14,400 at the end of the round. As a result, for only the tenth time in 75 games, Jennings did not have an insurmountable lead going into the Final Jeopardy! round. Only Jennings and Zerg, who ended Double Jeopardy! with $10,000, were able to play Final Jeopardy! as third-place contestant David Hankins failed to finish with a positive score after Double Jeopardy!
The Final Jeopardy! category was Business & Industry, and the clue was "Most of this firm's 70,000 seasonal
white-collar employees work only four months a year." Jennings appeared perplexed during the time allowed to write a response, while Zerg finished her response quickly. Zerg responded correctly with "What is
H&R Block
H&R Block, Inc., or H&R Block, is an American tax preparation company operating in Canada, the United States, and Australia. The company was founded in 1955 by brothers Henry W. Bloch and Richard Bloch.
As of 2018, H&R Block operates approxim ...
?" and wagered $4,401 of her $10,000, giving her a $1 lead over Jennings with his response still to be revealed. Jennings incorrectly responded with "What is
FedEx?" and lost the game with a final score of $8,799 after his $5,601 wager was deducted from his score. After his response was revealed to be incorrect, the audience audibly gasped, and Nancy was shocked after finding out that she won. He was awarded $2,000 for his second-place finish, which gave him a final total of $2,522,700 for his ''Jeopardy!'' run. Zerg, whom Jennings called a "formidable opponent", finished in third place on the next show. The audience gave a standing ovation in honor of both contestants, and Trebek called Zerg a "giant killer" as Jennings embraced her.
It took a span of 182 calendar days to broadcast Jennings' 75 matches. His losing episode can be seen on the 2005 DVD release of ''Jeopardy!: An Inside Look at America's Favorite Quiz Show'', released by
Sony Pictures Home Entertainment.
Effect of the streak on ''Jeopardy!''
''Jeopardy!'' implemented some backstage changes during Jennings' run. Normally, players only get a short time to practice, but more rehearsal time was added so that the new players could get comfortable with the buzzers. Additionally, the person who managed the buzzer system was changed. In his book ''Brainiac'', Jennings says that the consistency of the original manager's timing had given an increasing advantage to continuing players, and that the change made a noticeable difference in the second season that he was on the show. At one point, announcer
Johnny Gilbert
John Lewis Gilbert III (born July 13, 1928) is an American show business personality who has worked mainly on television game shows. Originally a nightclub singer and entertainer, he has hosted and announced a number of game shows from various ...
stopped announcing Jennings' total wins during the show's opening.
On December 1, 2004, the day after his defeat, Jennings made 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.
According to the
Nielsen TV National People Meter, ''Jeopardy!'' ratings were 22 percent higher during Jennings' 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. By the end of ''Jeopardy!'' 20th season several weeks later, the show had surpassed sister program ''
Wheel of Fortune The Wheel of Fortune or ''Rota Fortunae'' has been a concept and metaphor since ancient times referring to the capricious nature of Fate. Wheel of Fortune may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Art
* ''The Wheel of Fortune'' (Burne-Jo ...
'' in the ratings, though ''Wheel'' still benefited from the streak in markets where ''Jeopardy!'' is its
lead-in
A lead-in is a short phrase, usually five words or less, that starts off a photo caption in a newspaper, high school yearbook, magazine or other publication.
Lead-ins (a.k.a. "kickers") are used to catch the reader's attention and "lead in" to t ...
in the common scheduling tactic for both shows.
Media appearances and coverage during the streak
Jennings has received a good deal of American media coverage. After his 38th win on ''Jeopardy!'' during the summer break between tapings, Jennings made a guest appearance on ''
Live with Regis and Kelly
''Live with Kelly and Ryan'' (or simply ''Live'') is an American syndicated morning talk show hosted by Kelly Ripa and Ryan Seacrest. Executive produced by Michael Gelman, the ''Live with...'' show formula has aired under various hosts since ...
''. There Jennings revealed that he had failed to qualify for ''
Who Wants to Be a Millionaire
''Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?'' (often informally called ''Millionaire'') is an international television game show franchise of British origin, created by David Briggs, Mike Whitehill and Steven Knight. In its format, currently owned and l ...
'', once hosted by
Regis Philbin
Regis Francis Xavier Philbin (; August 25, 1931 – July 25, 2020)Archived aGhostarchiveand thWayback Machine was an American television presenter, talk show host, game show host, comedian, actor, and singer. Once called "the hardest working ma ...
. During that guest appearance, Jennings said, "''Jeopardy!'' is a man's game... it's not like ''Millionaire''." However, he finally made it onto ''Millionaire'' a few years later during
Terry Crews
Terry Alan Crews (born July 30, 1968) is an American actor, television host, and former American footballer. He played Julius Rock in the UPN/ CW sitcom ''Everybody Hates Chris'', which aired from 2005 to 2009, and portrayed Terry Jeffords ...
' only year as host.
Jennings appeared on the ''
Late Show with David Letterman
The ''Late Show with David Letterman'' is an American late-night talk show hosted by David Letterman on CBS, the first iteration of the The Late Show (franchise), ''Late Show'' franchise. The show debuted on August 30, 1993, and was produced by ...
'' to present
Letterman
Letterman may refer to:
* Letterman (sports), a classification of high school or college athlete in the United States
People
* David Letterman (born 1947), American television talk show host
** ''Late Night with David Letterman'', talk show that ...
's "Top Ten List" ("Top Ten Ways to Irritate Alex Trebek"). He appeared again on the program on the night his final show was televised, in addition to interview segments airing that night on local late evening 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
ABC News is the news division of the American broadcast network ABC. Its flagship program is the daily evening newscast ''ABC World News Tonight, ABC World News Tonight with David Muir''; other programs include Breakfast television, morning ...
special, which aired on December 8, 2004. While on his media tour following his final game, Jennings taped a segment for ''
Sesame Street
''Sesame Street'' is an American educational children's television series that combines live-action, sketch comedy, animation and puppetry. It is produced by Sesame Workshop (known as the Children's Television Workshop until June 2000) a ...
''. ''
TV Guide
TV Guide is an American digital media company that provides television program
Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or t ...
'' featured a segment of "The Top Ten TV Moments of 2004", in which Jennings' loss placed third. On December 1, 2004,
A&E aired an episode of ''
Biography
A biography, or simply bio, is a detailed description of a person's life. It involves more than just the basic facts like education, work, relationships, and death; it portrays a person's experience of these life events. Unlike a profile or ...
'' on Jennings and other ''Jeopardy!'' notables, including
Frank Spangenberg
Lieutenant Frank Spangenberg (born July 26, 1957) is an American game show contestant who garnered fame in 1990 when he set the five-day cumulative winnings record on ''Jeopardy!'', becoming the first person to win more than $100,000 in five days ...
and
Eddie Timanus.
''Jeopardy!'' tournaments
![Ken Jennings](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1c/Ken_Jennings.jpg)
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!'' 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 substantial cash prizes; with a grand prize of $2 million 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
Jerome Vered (born March 13, 1958) is a Studio City, California writer, publicly known for his record-setting success as a contestant on the U.S. television game show ''Jeopardy!''
Biography
Vered graduated from Harvard College and the USC School ...
, 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 temporarily displaced him as the highest overall winner of money on game shows. Jennings has said he is still happy with his second-place finish.
From February 14–16, 2011, ''Jeopardy''s "
IBM Challenge" featured the company's
Watson against Jennings and Rutter in two matches played over three days.
The winner of the competition was Watson, winning $1 million for two charities, while Jennings was second and Rutter was third, receiving $300,000 and $200,000, respectively. Jennings and Rutter each pledged to donate half of their winnings to charity.
This was the first-ever man-versus-machine competition in the show's history. At the end of the first episode, in which only the first match's ''Jeopardy!'' round was aired, Rutter was tied with Watson at $5,000, while Jennings was in third with $2,000. After the second episode in which the first game was completed, Jennings remained at third with $4,800 while Rutter at second had $10,400. The competition ended with Watson with $77,147, Jennings with $24,000, and Rutter with $21,600. Below his response during the Final Jeopardy! round, Jennings wrote on his screen "
I for one welcome our new computer overlords." It was the first time Rutter had been defeated against any human player, although the defeat is not on Rutter's ''Jeopardy!'' official record, as the competition was deemed an exhibition.
Jennings wrote about playing against Watson for ''
Slate
Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade regional metamorphism. It is the finest grained foliated metamorphic rock. ...
''.
In 2014, ''Jeopardy!'' aired a special five-week
Jeopardy! Battle of the Decades
''Jeopardy!'' is an American television quiz show created by Merv Griffin, in which contestants are presented with clues in the form of answers and must phrase their responses in the form of questions. Over the years, the show has featured many t ...
tournament. Jennings made it to the finals along with Brad Rutter and
Roger Craig. Jennings placed second, winning a $100,000 prize, and Rutter won first place, securing a $1-million prize.
In the 2019
''Jeopardy!'' All-Star Games, with 18 former champions, Jennings was one of six captains, choosing 2015
''Jeopardy!'' Tournament of Champions runner-up
Matt Jackson and 2012
''Jeopardy!'' College Champion Monica Thieu (who coincidentally eliminated Jennings in a 2016 episode of ''
500 Questions'') to complete his three-person "Team Ken".
Team Ken finished second to the team captained by Rutter, with Jennings winning $100,000, one-third of the $300,000 second-place prize.
[ This brought his lifetime ''Jeopardy!''-related winnings to $3,522,700.
In June 2019, Jennings said a future face-off between him and ''Jeopardy!'' record-holder ]James Holzhauer
James Holzhauer (born August 6, 1984) is an American game show contestant and professional sports gambler. He is the third-highest-earning American game show contestant of all time and is best known for his 32-game winning streak as champion ...
would be "irresistible."
A November 18, 2019 announcement by ABC named Jennings, Holzhauer, and Brad Rutter would return to ''Jeopardy!'' in a tournament to determine who is the "Greatest of All Time" scheduled to air on January 7, 2020. Jennings won the championship to be crowned with the "Greatest of All Time" title and a first-place prize of $1 million.
Outside ''Jeopardy!''
Taking advantage of the notoriety of Jennings' losing Final Jeopardy! answer, H&R Block offered Jennings free tax planning and financial services for the rest of his life. H&R Block senior vice president David Byers estimated that Jennings owed about $1.04 million in taxes on his winnings. Also, BBDO
BBDO is a worldwide advertising agency network, with its headquarters in New York City. The agency originated in 1891 with the George Batten Company, and in 1928, through a merger with Barton, Durstine & Osborn (BDO), the agency became Batten, B ...
created an advertisement for FedEx in the ''USA Today
''USA Today'' (stylized in all uppercase) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth on September 15, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headquarters in Tysons, Virgini ...
'' newspaper three days after his final game, stating "There's only one time FedEx has ever been the wrong answer" and congratulating Jennings for his streak.
In a 2011 Reddit AMA
r/IAmA is a subreddit for question-and-answer interactive interviews termed "AMA" (short for "Ask Me Anything"). AMA interviewees have ranged from various celebrities to everyday people in several lines of work. Founded in May 2009, the subredd ...
, Jennings recalled how in 2004 the Democratic politicians Chuck Schumer
Charles Ellis Schumer ( ; born November 23, 1950) is an American politician serving as Senate Majority Leader since January 20, 2021. A member of the Democratic Party, Schumer is in his fourth Senate term, having held his seat since 1999, and ...
and Harry Reid
Harry Mason Reid Jr. (; December 2, 1939 – December 28, 2021) was an American lawyer and politician who served as a United States senator from Nevada from 1987 to 2017. He led the Senate Democratic Caucus from 2005 to 2017 and was the Sena ...
unsuccessfully asked Jennings to run for the United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States.
The composition and pow ...
from Utah
Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...
. He commented, "That was when I realized the Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to:
*Democratic Party (United States)
Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to:
Active parties Africa
*Botswana Democratic Party
*Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea
*Gabonese Democratic Party
*Demo ...
was f@#$ed in '04".
Jennings has written several books. ''Brainiac: Adventures in the Curious, Competitive, Compulsive World of Trivia Buffs'' details his experiences on ''Jeopardy!'' and his research into trivia culture conducted after the completion of his run. ''Ken Jennings' Trivia Almanac: 8,888 Questions in 365 Days'', a hardcover book, is a compilation of trivia questions—with 3 categories and about 20 questions per day of the year. ''Maphead: Charting the Wide, Weird World of Geography Wonks'' explores the world of map and geography enthusiasts.[, 2011, Scribner, ] ''Because I Said So!'' is a humorous examination of "the myths, tales & warnings every generation passes down to its kids". He also has written five books for his children's series, ''Junior Genius Guides.''
Jennings also had a column in ''Mental Floss
''Mental Floss'' (stylized as ''mental_floss'') is an online magazine and its related American digital, print, and e-commerce media company focused on millennials. It is owned by Minute Media and based in New York City, United States. mentalflos ...
'' magazine called "Six Degrees of Ken Jennings", where readers submitted two wildly different things that Jennings had to connect in exactly six steps, in the style of the Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon
Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon or Bacon's Law is a parlor game where players challenge each other to arbitrarily choose an actor and then connect them to another actor via a film that both actors have appeared in together, repeating this process to t ...
game. The column ran from November 2005 to the September–October 2010 issue.
According to Variety.com, Jennings and television producer Michael Davies teamed up as executive producers on a new game show format for Comedy Central
Comedy Central is an American basic cable channel owned by Paramount Global through its network division's MTV Entertainment Group unit, based in Manhattan. The channel is geared towards young adults aged 18–34 and carries comedy programming ...
. According to Comedy Central execs, it was planned that Jennings would co-host and participate. The series was planned to premiere late in 2005 or in the first quarter of 2006. As of April 2006, development had stalled, and the show's future remained uncertain. Jennings explained on his website that " Stephen Colbert's show was doing so well in its post-''Daily Show
''The Daily Show'' is an American late-night talk and satirical news television program. It airs each Monday through Thursday on Comedy Central with release shortly after on Paramount+. ''The Daily Show'' draws its comedy and satire form fro ...
'' spot that Comedy Central decided they weren't in the market for a quiz show anymore." As of mid-2006, he was still shopping a potential game show titled ''Ken Jennings vs. the Rest of the World''.
Jennings appeared on ''The Colbert Report
''The Colbert Report'' ( ) is an American late-night talk and news satire television program hosted by Stephen Colbert that aired four days a week on Comedy Central from October 17, 2005, to December 18, 2014, for 1,447 episodes. The show fo ...
'' on September 13, 2006. During the interview, Colbert discussed Jennings' book, ''Brainiac'', and mocked him for not knowing the number of pages in the book. After Colbert coined a word to describe intellectual nerdiness, "poindexterity", Jennings deliberated what the correct noun for "poindexter" was. Jennings noted, as he had done earlier that day on NPR
National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other ...
's ''Talk of the Nation
''Talk of the Nation'' (''TOTN'')
is an American talk radio program based in Washington D.C., produced by National Public Radio ( NPR) that was broadcast nationally from 2 to 4 p.m. Eastern Time. It focused on current events and controversial i ...
'', that since his streak, people "seem to have an extra-hard trivia question" in case they run into him.
He also appeared twice on NPR's '' Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!'' program. In his February 25, 2006, appearance on the "Not My Job" segment, he answered all three questions correctly, winning for a listener Carl Kasell
Carl Ray Kasell (; April 2, 1934 – April 17, 2018) was an American radio personality. He was a newscaster for National Public Radio, and later was the official judge and scorekeeper of the weekly news quiz show '' Wait Wait... Don't Tell ...
's voice on that person's home answering machine. Jennings said, "This is the proudest moment of my game-show life." On June 1, 2013, he made his debut as a panelist on ''Wait Wait Don't Tell Me''.
Jennings has written and edited literature and mythology questions for the National Academic Quiz Tournaments
National Academic Quiz Tournaments, LLC is a question-writing and quiz bowl tournament-organizing company founded by former players in 1996. It is unique among U.S. quiz organizations for supplying questions and hosting championships at the midd ...
(NAQT), a quiz bowl organization. He has read questions as a moderator at the 2005, 2006, and 2009 NAQT High School National Championship Tournaments in Chicago.
''Entertainment Weekly
''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular cul ...
'' put his performance on its end-of-the-decade "best of" list, saying, "Answer: A software engineer from Utah, he dominated the quizfest for a record 74 shows in 2004, amassing $2,520,700. Question: Who is Ken Jennings?"
Jennings narrated the audiobook
An audiobook (or a talking book) is a recording of a book or other work being read out loud. A reading of the complete text is described as "unabridged", while readings of shorter versions are abridgements.
Spoken audio has been available in sc ...
version of Alex Trebek's autobiography, '' The Answer Is...''. His rendition was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album at the 63rd Grammy Awards.
Other game show appearances
Jennings appeared on the first two episodes of the NBC game show ''1 vs. 100
1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1 ...
'' on October 13 and 20, 2006, as a mob member. He incorrectly answered the question, "What color is the number 1 space on a standard roulette
Roulette is a casino game named after the French word meaning ''little wheel'' which was likely developed from the Italian game Biribi''.'' In the game, a player may choose to place a bet on a single number, various groupings of numbers, the ...
wheel?" as "black" instead of "red" in his second episode, eliminating him from the game. He left the show with $714.29, his share of a $35,000 prize shared among 49 mob members. He returned to the show for a special "Last Man Standing" episode aired on February 9, 2007. He was eliminated on the final question, which asked which of three people had been married the most times; he answered King Henry VIII
Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is best known for his six marriages, and for his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. His disag ...
, while the correct answer was Larry King
Larry King (born Lawrence Harvey Zeiger; November 19, 1933 – January 23, 2021) was an American television and radio host, whose awards included 2 Peabodys
The George Foster Peabody Awards (or simply Peabody Awards or the Peabodys) program ...
. It was the first time Jennings had a chance at a rematch against rival Brad Rutter, who was also part of the mob and was eliminated before Jennings.
In 2007, Jennings was invited to be a contestant on the game show ''Grand Slam
Grand Slam most often refers to:
* Grand Slam (tennis), one player or pair winning all four major annual tournaments, or the tournaments themselves
Grand Slam or Grand slam may also refer to:
Games and sports
* Grand slam, winning category te ...
'' hosted by Dennis Miller
Dennis Michael Miller (born November 3, 1953) is an American talk show host, political commentator, sports commentator, actor, and comedian.
He was a cast member of ''Saturday Night Live'' from 1985 to 1991, and he subsequently hosted a stri ...
and Amanda Byram, also a Sony Pictures production. It debuted on Game Show Network
Game Show Network (GSN) is an American basic cable channel owned by Sony Pictures Television. The channel's programming is primarily dedicated to game shows, including reruns of acquired game shows, along with new, first-run original and revive ...
(GSN) on August 4, 2007, and featured 16 former game-show winners in a single-elimination tournament. Jennings, seeded second behind Brad Rutter, won the tournament and became the 2007 Grand Slam Champion after defeating Ogi Ogas
Ogi Ogas is an American writer who received doctoral training as a computational neuroscientist. As of May 2016, he is a visiting scholar at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, where he serves as Project Head for the Individual Mastery ...
(a second-round winner against Rutter) in the finals. He earned $100,000 for his victory.
Jennings was a contestant on an episode of '' Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?'' that aired on October 10, 2008, which held the possibility of exceeding Rutter's total game show winnings. After winning $500,000, enough to surpass Rutter's total, Jennings chose not to attempt the final $1-million question, which would have deducted $475,000 from his winnings if he missed it. As is customary on the show, Jennings was then shown the question to see what would have happened, and he provided the correct answer. Had he risked his winnings and correctly answered the question, he would have become the show's second $1-million winner.
From 2008 to 2009, Jennings appeared on GSN on Fridays for the trivia game '' Stump the Master, where'' home viewers submitted questions via the GSN website. Four callers were put on hold and Jennings selected from one of the categories. The caller for the category he picked came on the line and read the question. If Jennings didn't answer or was incorrect, the caller won $1,000 or more. When Jennings was right, the jackpot was increased by $1,000. All callers were given a small prize whether they participated on-air or not.
Jennings has appeared on multiple episodes of ''Doug Loves Movies
Douglas Steven Benson (born July 2, 1962) is an American comedian, marijuana rights advocate, television host and actor, best known for hosting the podcasts and TV series ''Doug Loves Movies'' (2006-present), ''The Benson Interruption'' (2010-20 ...
'', hosted by Doug Benson
Douglas Steven Benson (born July 2, 1962) is an American comedian, marijuana rights advocate, television host and actor, best known for hosting the podcasts and TV series ''Doug Loves Movies'' (2006-present), ''The Benson Interruption'' (2010-20 ...
, and has won a few times.
Jennings also appeared on two other Sony Pictures Television game shows, ''Who Wants to Be a Millionaire
''Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?'' (often informally called ''Millionaire'') is an international television game show franchise of British origin, created by David Briggs, Mike Whitehill and Steven Knight. In its format, currently owned and l ...
,'' as a frequent expert for the lifeline "Ask the Expert", and also taped a pilot for the proposed 2009 CBS revival of Sony's ''The $25,000 Pyramid
''Pyramid'' is the collective name of a series of American television game shows that has aired several versions domestically and internationally. The original series, ''The $10,000 Pyramid'', debuted on March 26, 1973, and spawned seven subsequ ...
.''
Jennings appeared on ''Millionaire'' in 2014 as a contestant during Guinness World Records Edition themed week, where he won $100,000 after deciding to walk away on his $250,000 question. If he had gone for it, he would have been right and would have won $250,000.
Jennings appeared on the second-season premiere of '' 500 Questions'' on May 26, 2016 and was eliminated on the fourth question by winter 2012 college champion Monica Thieu, leaving with no winnings. Jennings later teamed up with Thieu, along with Matt Jackson, in the ''Jeopardy!'' All-Star Games in 2019.
Jennings appeared on an episode of ''@midnight
''@midnight with Chris Hardwick'' (shortened to and formerly exclusively titled ''@midnight'') was an American late night Internet-themed panel game show, hosted by Chris Hardwick, that aired Monday through Thursday nights between October 21, ...
'' aired May 15, 2017, during the fourth season, which he won. As a result, he served as the funniest person on the internet for May 16, 2017.
An announcement in April 2019 named Jennings as one of eight recurring "Trivia Experts" for the new Game Show Network program ''Best Ever Trivia Show
'' Master Minds ''is an American game show airing on the Game Show Network. The show debuted on June 10, 2019, under the title ''Best Ever Trivia Show'', hosted by Sherri Shepherd and regularly featuring Ken Jennings, Muffy Marracco, Jonathan C ...
'', hosted by Sherri Shepherd
Sherri Shepherd (born April 22, 1967) is an American actress, comedian, author, broadcaster, and television personality. She currently hosts the daily syndicated daytime talk show, '' Sherri''. From 2007 to 2014, Shepherd was a co-host of the da ...
. The show premiered at 4:00 p.m. ET on June 10, 2019. He was also one of the six trivia experts on ''Best Ever'' successor, '' Master Minds'', which premiered at 4:00 p.m. ET on April 6, 2020, with Brooke Burns
Brooke Elizabeth Burns (born March 16, 1978) is an American fashion model, game show host, actress, and television personality. Burns began her television career in 1995, portraying the supporting character Peg in the Spanish- American teen s ...
as the host.
In November 2020, it was announced that Jennings would be one of the 3 chasers on the ABC
ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet.
ABC or abc may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting
* American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster
** Disney–ABC Television ...
revival of '' The Chase'', hosted by Sara Haines
Sara Hilary Haines (born September 18, 1977) is an American television host and journalist. She is known as a co-host of the ABC daytime talk shows '' The View'' and ''Strahan, Sara and Keke'' and game show '' The Chase''. She has also worked as ...
with Rutter and Holzhauer as the other chasers, joined by Mark Labbett
Mark Andrew Labbett (born 15 August 1965), also known by his professional nickname The Beast, is an English quizzer and television personality. Since 2009 he has been one of the "chasers" on the ITV game show '' The Chase'' as "The Beast" and ...
in season 2. Jennings left after the second season.
American Crossword Puzzle Tournament
Jennings won the rookie
A rookie is a person new to an occupation, profession, or hobby. In sports, a ''rookie'' is a professional athlete in their first season (or year).
In contrast with a veteran who has experience and expertise, a rookie is usually inexperienced ...
division of the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament
The American Crossword Puzzle Tournament is a crossword-solving tournament held annually in February, March, or April. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2020 tournament was canceled. In April 2021, the 43rd tournament was held virtually. Founded ...
in 2006. In his first time competing, Jennings placed 37th overall. He also served as the award's presenter, becoming the first contestant to present an award to himself. He has not competed in the tournament since.
''Kennections''
Jennings had a weekly trivia column, Ken''nections,'' in ''Parade
A parade is a procession of people, usually organized along a street, often in costume, and often accompanied by marching bands, float (parade), floats, or sometimes large balloons. Parades are held for a wide range of reasons, but are usually ce ...
'' magazine. In it, five questions were posed whose answers were connected to a mystery topic, which the readers had to guess. ''Parade'' ceased the quiz in early 2015, and removed links to archived quizzes in March 2015. ''Kennections'' now appears in the online version of ''Mental Floss'' magazine.
Tuesday trivia emails
Every Tuesday, beginning July 4, 2006, Jennings sent out an email containing seven questions. The seventh, a question asking what several items have in common, was designed to be Google-resistant. Subscribers responded with the answers to all seven questions and the results are maintained on a scoreboard on Jennings' blog. Every ten weeks, the respondent with the most seventh questions correct was awarded a signed copy of his newest book. After 800 quizzes, as of November 16, 2021, due to an ever-increasing amount of commitments related to ''Jeopardy!'', book tours, and simply starting to run out of material for the seventh question, Jennings decided to discontinue this email.
Controversial tweets
Jennings is an active Twitter user, and some of his tweets have been subjects of controversy. On September 22, 2014, he received criticism after tweeting, "Nothing sadder than a hot person in a wheelchair." The tweet reignited controversy after resurfacing in 2020, which led to condemnation from noted disability rights
The disability rights movement is a global social movement that seeks to secure equal opportunities and equal rights for all people with disabilities.
It is made up of organizations of disability activists, also known as disability advocat ...
activists such as Rebecca Cokley.
On November 10, 2015, he was criticized when he tweeted a joke about the death of Daniel Fleetwood, a lifelong ''Star Wars
''Star Wars'' is an American epic film, epic space opera multimedia franchise created by George Lucas, which began with the Star Wars (film), eponymous 1977 film and quickly became a worldwide popular culture, pop-culture Cultural impact of S ...
'' fan who died of cancer. Fleetwood's dying wish was to see '' Star Wars: The Force Awakens'', fearing he likely would not live to see the film when it opened in theaters in December 2015. An online campaign was started on his behalf and his wish was granted only days before he died. Jennings said, "It can't be a good sign that every fan who has seen the new Star Wars movie died shortly thereafter."
Jennings again faced controversy when on May 31, 2017, he tweeted a joke involving Barron Trump, the youngest child of U.S. President Donald Trump
Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021.
Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pe ...
. After 11-year-old Barron saw an image of Kathy Griffin
Kathleen Mary Griffin (born November 4, 1960) is an American comedian and actress who has starred in television comedy specials and has released comedy albums. In 2007 and 2008, Griffin won Primetime Emmy Awards for her reality show '' Kathy ...
holding a bloody Trump mask, he believed it was real and screamed. Jennings wrote, "Barron Trump saw a very long necktie on a heap of expired deli meat in a dumpster. He thought it was his dad & his little heart is breaking." After the tweet garnered controversy, Jennings said, "The joke doesn't mock Barron. It mocks using him for political cover." In August 2018, Jennings was criticized for his description of an elderly woman tweeting about her deceased son. When she tweeted about her son's love for the 1980s television character ALF, Jennings responded with "This awful MAGA grandma is my favorite person on Twitter."
In December 2020, Jennings offered an apology on Twitter for some of his past comments.
In January 2021, Jennings faced controversy again when his friend and podcast co-host John Roderick posted a Twitter thread where he discussed preventing his nine-year-old daughter from eating until she learned to open a can of baked beans using a manual can opener, which he approximated took six hours. The incident caused controversial past tweets to resurface in which Roderick made comments that were seen as using anti-semitic, homophobic, racist, and other derogatory language. Jennings defended Roderick, saying he was "a loving and attentive dad who ... tells heightened-for-effect stories."[
'']The Wall Street Journal
''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...
'' reported in August 2021 that Jennings was intended to be Alex Trebek's successor, but his social media controversies hurt his standing, with poor ratings from focus groups and Sony executives fearing his selection could cause backlash.
''Omnibus'' podcast
On September 7, 2017, HowStuffWorks
HowStuffWorks is an American commercial infotainment website founded by professor and author Marshall Brain, to provide its target audience an insight into the way many things work. The site uses various media to explain complex concepts, termin ...
unveiled a new show entitled ''Omnibus'', co-hosted by Jennings and John Roderick, frontman of the indie-rock band The Long Winters
The Long Winters are an American indie rock band based in Seattle, Washington.
History
Singer-songwriter John Roderick was born in Seattle, Washington, and grew up in Anchorage, Alaska. He later returned to Seattle, where he formed the Bun Fa ...
. They will pick topics they fear might be lost to history and discuss them.
LearnedLeague and online trivia
Jennings has been an active member of the trivia app FleetWit, regularly playing in the live trivia races. As of March 2018, on average, he had answered 89 percent of questions correctly and has won over $2,000.
Jennings competed regularly in LearnedLeague
LearnedLeague is a web-based, invitation-only global quiz league operated by Seattle-based software engineer Shayne Bushfield under the pseudonym "Thorsten A. Integrity". As of September 2022, it has over 26,000 members worldwide.
Structure
Playe ...
under the name "JenningsK". As of the current season of LearnedLeague (LL95: November 2022), his profile is marked Inactive. Ken's last active season was LL85 (May 2020), where he played in the A Rundle of the Laguna league and finished the season in 5th place. LearnedLeague Season 86 started on August 19, 2020, and Sony announced Ken as the Consulting Producer of Jeopardy on September 3, 2020. Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune had halted live taping due to the COVID-19 pandemic in mid-March 2020 and resumed taping prior to September 2020.
Washington State honor
On March 3, 2020, the Washington State Legislature approved Senate Resolution 8704, congratulating Jennings for his achievements on game shows.
Endorsements
Jennings agreed to a deal with Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology corporation producing computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at the Microsoft Redmond campus located in Redmond, Washing ...
to promote its ''Encarta
''Microsoft Encarta'' is a discontinued digital multimedia encyclopedia published by Microsoft from 1993 to 2009. Originally sold on CD-ROM or DVD, it was also available on the World Wide Web via an annual subscription, although later articles ...
'' encyclopedia software (which was later discontinued). He is also engaged in speaking deals through the Massachusetts-based speakers' agency American Program Bureau. In 2005, Cingular Wireless
AT&T Mobility LLC, also known as AT&T Wireless and marketed as simply AT&T, is an American telecommunications company. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of AT&T Inc. and provides wireless services in the United States. AT&T Mobility is the t ...
(now AT&T
AT&T Inc. is an American multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered at Whitacre Tower in Downtown Dallas, Texas. It is the world's largest telecommunications company by revenue and the third largest provider of mobile te ...
) featured Jennings in commercials portraying him as having lots of "friends and family" (coming out of the woodwork).
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, both correct and incorrect, are recorded on the cards.
Personal life
Jennings and his wife Mindy have a son, Dylan, born November 22, 2002, and a daughter, Caitlin, born November 13, 2006.
During his ''Jeopardy!
''Jeopardy!'' is an American game show created by Merv Griffin. The show is a quiz competition that reverses the traditional question-and-answer format of many quiz shows. Rather than being given questions, contestants are instead given gene ...
'' winning streak, Jennings was a software engineer for CHG Healthcare Services
CHG Healthcare is an American healthcare services company that was founded in 1979 by Therus C. Kolff to deliver medical care to rural areas of the western United States. The company is based in Midvale, Utah, though the postal designation of near ...
, a healthcare-placement firm in Holladay, Utah
Holladay is a city in central Salt Lake County, Utah, United States. It is part of the Salt Lake City, Utah Metropolitan Statistical Area and abuts the Wasatch National Forest. The population was 31,965 at the 2020 census, a significant increas ...
.
Jennings is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a Nontrinitarianism, nontrinitarian Christianity, Christian church that considers itself to be the Restorationism, restoration of the ...
.
Bibliography
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See also
* List of notable ''Jeopardy!'' contestants
* Strategies and skills of ''Jeopardy!'' champions
References
External links
*
Omnibus podcast web site
* Jennings' February 2013 TED talk
TED Conferences, LLC (Technology, Entertainment, Design) is an American-Canadian non-profit media organization that posts international talks online for free distribution under the slogan "ideas worth spreading". TED was founded by Richard Sau ...
(video)
"Watson, Jeopardy, and me, the obsolete know-it-all"
*
2006 IMNO Interview with Ken Jennings
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jennings, Ken
1974 births
21st-century American male writers
21st-century American non-fiction writers
American bloggers
American game show hosts
American male bloggers
American podcasters
American software engineers
Audiobook narrators
Brigham Young University alumni
Jeopardy! contestants
Latter Day Saints from Utah
Latter Day Saints from Washington (state)
Living people
People from Edmonds, Washington
Utah Democrats
Washington (state) Democrats
Writers from Salt Lake City
Writers from Seattle
Jeopardy!