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Kenneth Wayne Jennings III (born May 23, 1974) is an American game show host, former contestant, and author. He is best known for his work on the syndicated quiz show ''
Jeopardy! ''Jeopardy!'' is an American television 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 g ...
'' as a contestant and later its host. Jennings was born in Edmonds, Washington, but grew up in
South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...
and
Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...
. He worked as a
computer programmer A programmer, computer programmer or coder is an author of computer source code someone with skill in computer programming. The professional titles ''software developer'' and ''software engineer'' are used for jobs that require a progr ...
before he tried out for ''Jeopardy!'' in 2004. During his initial run, Jennings secured a consecutive 74 wins, setting the record as the highest-earning American game show contestant (a title he held for more than twenty years) and bringing significant media attention and viewership. Afterwards, Jennings pursued a career as an author, writing about his experience and exploring American trivia history and culture in a series of best-selling books. He also appeared on other game shows, including '' The Chase'' (where he sported the nickname "The Professor"), and hosted the '' Omnibus''
podcast A podcast is a Radio program, program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. Typically, a podcast is an Episode, episodic series of digital audio Computer file, files that users can download to a personal device or str ...
. He returned to ''Jeopardy!'' in 2020 as a producer, and later guest-hosted the program after the death of host Alex Trebek the same year. He split full-time hosting duties initially with actress Mayim Bialik until 2023, when he was made the sole host. Jennings holds numerous game show records: he is the second highest-earning American game show contestant, having won money on five different programs, including a cumulative total of $4,522,700 on ''Jeopardy!'' His original appearance on the program marks the longest winning streak, having won $2,522,700 in his initial 74-day appearance. He also holds the record for the highest average correct responses per game. Additionally, Jennings was awarded the first-place prize in '' Jeopardy! The Greatest of All Time'' (2020).


Early and personal life

Kenneth Wayne Jennings III 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 city located immediately outside of
Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...
. His father was an international lawyer and moved the family to
South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...
when Ken was in the first grade. His mother was a school teacher and worked for the Department of Defense in that capacity overseas. Jennings grew up viewing ''Jeopardy!'' on the American Forces Network. Jennings spent 11 years living in Korea and Singapore; he graduated from the Seoul Foreign School. Upon returning to the United States, Jennings attended the
University of Washington The University of Washington (UW and informally U-Dub or U Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington, United States. Founded in 1861, the University of Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast of the Uni ...
. He 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 Restorationism, restorationist Christianity, Christian Christian denomination, denomination and the ...
, and spent two years as a volunteer
missionary A missionary is a member of a Religious denomination, religious group who 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.Thoma ...
, serving in
Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...
, Spain. In 1996, he transferred to
Brigham Young University Brigham Young University (BYU) is a Private education, private research university in Provo, Utah, United States. It was founded in 1875 by religious leader Brigham Young and is the flagship university of the Church Educational System sponsore ...
(BYU). One of his roommates was author
Brandon Sanderson Brandon Winn Sanderson (born December19, 1975) is an American author of high fantasy, science fiction, and young adult books. He is best known for the Cosmere fictional universe, in which most of his fantasy novels, most notably the '' Mistb ...
. He also played on the school's
quizbowl Quiz bowl (quizbowl, scholars' bowl, scholastic bowl, academic bowl, academic team, academic challenge, etc.) is a family of quiz-based competitions that test players on Outline of academic disciplines, a wide variety of academic subjects. Stand ...
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, information, and automation. Computer science spans Theoretical computer science, theoretical disciplines (such as algorithms, theory of computation, and information theory) to Applied science, ...
. He met his wife, Mindy, at BYU; they have two children. After college, Jennings lived in
Salt Lake City Salt Lake City, often shortened to Salt Lake or SLC, is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Utah. It is the county seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in the state. The city is the core of the Salt Lake Ci ...
and was a software engineer for CHG Healthcare Services, a healthcare placement firm in Holladay, Utah. Following his success on ''Jeopardy!'', Jennings and his family later moved to Seattle, where he splits his time between his career as an author and ''Jeopardy!'' host. Though ''Jeopardy!'' tapes in
Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...
, Jennings said he does not have any plans in the immediate future to relocate there full-time, but he owns a small residence in the city where he stays during taping sessions. Jennings is a teetotaler.


''Jeopardy!''


Original streak

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's run, the record winning streak was set by Tom Walsh, who won $186,900 in eight games in January 2004. Jennings took the contestant exam for ''Jeopardy!'' in 2003, but did not hear back from the show for a year. He was given three weeks to prepare for his taping. Jennings prepared extensively; he used a couch as a podium, his young child's toy as a buzzer, and his wife used flash cards and kept score. Jennings's 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's entire winning streak nearly ended before it even began. The Final Jeopardy! answer was, "She's the first female track and 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 (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 instead. His historic streak then underway, Jennings had taped 48 episodes before a single one made it to air. His last program was taped in September, but did not air until November 30, 2004, coinciding with the end of the November sweeps. His 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 10th 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 the Double Jeopardy! round. 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?" 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 FedEx Corporation, originally known as Federal Express Corporation, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate holding company specializing in Package delivery, transportation, e-commerce, and ...
?" 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 Zerg appeared to be shocked after realizing that she won. Jennings 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 Alex Trebek called Zerg a "giant killer" as Jennings embraced her. According to the
Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American not-for-profit organization, not-for-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association, and produces news reports that are dist ...
, rumor of Jennings's defeat began circulating shortly after the episode's original taping, and footage had leaked online by November 29. Overall, Jennings answered over 2,700 questions correctly on the program. Jennings's 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 Presidential elections were held in the United States on November 2, 2004. Incumbent Republican President George W. Bush and his running mate, incumbent Vice President Dick Cheney, were re-elected to a second term. They narrowly defeated ...
(Tuesday, November 2, 2004, when no first-run episode was scheduled; the remaining episodes of the week aired from that 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. Jennings did not participate in the Tournament of Champions, as invitations are extended only to champions (4 wins or more) who have been defeated (with the exception of the winner of the College Championship). 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.


Impact and television ratings

It took a span of 182 calendar days to broadcast Jennings's 75 matches. His run on the show brought significant media attention and television ratings. According to the Nielsen TV National People Meter, ''Jeopardy!'' ratings were 22 percent 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, with ratings 30 percent higher than before his appearance. By the end of ''Jeopardy!'' 20th season several weeks later, the show had surpassed sister program '' Wheel of Fortune'' in the ratings, though ''Wheel'' still benefited from the streak in markets where ''Jeopardy!'' is its lead-in in the common scheduling tactic for both shows. Jennings was credited with boosting the program's popularity as a whole, which at that point had been on the air for two decades but primarily attracted an older demographic. The attention changed Jennings's life overnight, turning him into a household name. Jennings guested on several television programs, including '' The Tonight Show'', ''
Nightline ''Nightline'' (or ''ABC News Nightline'') is ABC News (United States), ABC News' Late night television in the United States, late-night television news program broadcast on American Broadcasting Company, ABC in the United States with a franchis ...
'', '' Live with Regis and Kelly'', ''
Sesame Street ''Sesame Street'' is an American educational television, 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 Worksh ...
'', and the ''
Late Show with David Letterman ''Late Show with David Letterman'' is an American late-night talk show hosted by David Letterman on CBS, the first iteration of the ''Late Show'' franchise. The show debuted on August 30, 1993, and was produced by Letterman's production com ...
'', where he read the Top Ten List of Ways To Irritate Alex Trebek. Publicists for the program reportedly divided his appearances evenly between ABC and CBS—the former a frequent affiliate for the show and the latter a sister company to the show's syndicator. Taking advantage of the notoriety of Jennings's losing Final Jeopardy! answer, H&R Block offered Jennings free tax planning and financial services for the rest of his life, with a senior vice president for the company estimating that he owed about $1.04 million in taxes on his winnings. BBDO created an advertisement for FedEx in the ''
USA Today ''USA Today'' (often stylized in all caps) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth in 1980 and launched on September 14, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headq ...
'' 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. Barbara Walters named him one of her 10 Most Fascinating People of 2004. In a 2011 Reddit AMA, Jennings recalled how in
2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...
the Democratic politicians
Chuck Schumer Charles Ellis Schumer ( ; born November 23, 1950) is an American politician serving as the Seniority in the United States Senate, senior United States Senate, United States senator from New York (state), New York, a seat he has held since 1999. ...
and Harry Reid unsuccessfully asked Jennings to run for the
United States Senate The United States Senate is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the United States House of Representatives, U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and ...
from
Utah Utah is a landlocked state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is one of the Four Corners states, sharing a border with Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico. It also borders Wyoming to the northea ...
. He commented, "That was when I realized the Democratic Party was crewedin '04". At the end of the decade, ''
Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American online magazine, digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, ...
'' put his run on its "best of" list: "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 donated ten percent of his winnings to the LDS Church. His streak made an impact backstage at the show as well, with the producers implemented some changes during his 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 stopped announcing Jennings's total wins during the show's opening. His losing episode can be seen on the 2005 DVD release of ''Jeopardy!: An Inside Look at America's Favorite Quiz Show''. In 2023, Jennings's entire run was made available for the first time, streaming on Pluto TV.


Tournaments

Jennings returned to the program several times over the years as a contestant in its tournaments. He first rejoined the show for the 15-week, 75-show ''Jeopardy!'' Ultimate Tournament of Champions in 2005. The field totaled 145 players including Jennings, who, unlike the other competitors, was automatically placed in the finals. In the final round, 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 temporarily displaced him as the highest overall winner of money on game shows. He returned for the 2011 ''Jeopardy''s "
IBM International Business Machines Corporation (using the trademark IBM), nicknamed Big Blue, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational technology company headquartered in Armonk, New York, and present in over 175 countries. It is ...
Challenge", which featured the company's Watson against Jennings and Rutter in two matches played over three days, the first man-versus-machine competition in the show's history. The winner of the competition was Watson, winning $1,000,000 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. 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 ro ...
''. He participated in the 2014 ''Jeopardy!'' Battle of the Decades tournament, where he 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 $1,000,000 prize. In the 2019 ''Jeopardy!'' All-Star Games, with 18 former champions, Jennings was one of six captains, choosing 2015 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. In January 2020, ABC aired the ''Jeopardy!'' Greatest of All Time tournament between Jennings, Rutter, and James Holzhauer. Jennings won the championship to be crowned with the "Greatest of All Time" title and a first-place prize of $1,000,000, bringing his lifetime ''Jeopardy!''-related winnings to $3,522,700.


Hosting

In September 2020, Jennings signed on as a consulting producer of ''Jeopardy!'' for the show's 37th season, a job that included reading on-air categories. Alex Trebek, the longtime host of ''Jeopardy!'', had been diagnosed with stage four
pancreatic cancer Pancreatic cancer arises when cell (biology), cells in the pancreas, a glandular organ behind the stomach, begin to multiply out of control and form a Neoplasm, mass. These cancerous cells have the malignant, ability to invade other parts of ...
the previous year. Trebek taped his final episode of the program on October 29, 2020. Contingency plans were made for him to miss the next taping, scheduled for November 9–10, as he planned to have a surgery. Supervising producers Lisa Broffman and Rock Schmidt had named Ken Jennings the interim host for the taping and Jennings had a final conversation with Trebek days before the rehearsal was set to commence. The rehearsal was scheduled for November 8, 2020, but was subsequently cancelled when Schmidt gave the staff the news that Trebek had died that day from his cancer. Jennings was widely viewed as an heir to the role as host; Trebek had also reportedly considered Jennings his rightful successor. Trebek's widow Jean gave Jennings a pair of cufflinks Trebek wore as a gift prior to his first taping as host. Jennings was announced as the first in a series of guest hosts of the program in November 2020. His episodes aired from January 11 to February 19, 2021. Later, ''
The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' (''WSJ''), also referred to simply as the ''Journal,'' is an American newspaper based in New York City. The newspaper provides extensive coverage of news, especially business and finance. It operates on a subscriptio ...
'' reported Jennings was indeed intended to be sole host, but controversy over his remarks on social media hurt his standing, with poor ratings from focus groups and Sony executives fearing his selection could cause backlash. After a brief period in which presenter Mike Richards was named as host and quickly dismissed due to controversy, Jennings resumed hosting the daily syndicated program alongside actress Mayim Bialik, who had also guest-hosted over 2021. The next year, it was announced that Jennings, along with Bialik, would split hosting duties full-time beginning with the show's 39th season. Jennings also began hosting the new '' Jeopardy! Masters'' series, a primetime tournament featuring six recent notable ''
Jeopardy! ''Jeopardy!'' is an American television 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 g ...
'' champions competing against each other in a " Champions League-style" format, on ABC in 2023. The program premiered on May 8, 2023. Following Bialik's withdrawal from ''Jeopardy!'' on May 11, 2023 due to the 2023 Hollywood labor disputes, the last 20 episodes of season 39 were hosted by Jennings. Five days later, it was announced that Jennings would host the second season of ''Celebrity Jeopardy!''. In September of that year, Jennings received a nomination for Outstanding Host For A Game Show at the 75th Primetime Emmy Awards. After the strikes were resolved, Jennings became the permanent sole host of ''Jeopardy!'' starting with the 40th season. According to reporter Claire McNear, "Many ''Jeopardy!'' staff members came to believe that Jennings had become the technically superior host, according to a source close to production, who says that Jennings's improvement was the key factor that spelled the end for Bialik."


2023 Writers Guild of America strike

In May 2023, the
Writers Guild of America The Writers Guild of America (WGA) is the name of two American labor unions representing writers in film, television, radio, and online media: * The Writers Guild of America, East (WGAE) is headquartered in New York City and is affiliated wit ...
announced that its unionized writers would go on strike, as part of negotiations largely related to increases in pay, benefits, and protections against artificial intelligence. Jennings's then co-host on ''
Jeopardy! ''Jeopardy!'' is an American television 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 g ...
'', Mayim Bialik, refused to participate in the show's final week of filming as a result. Jennings was reportedly brought in as the host for filming "as a result of Bialik's decision"; while this initially led to accusations of strikebreaking, a statement from SAG-AFTRA said that ''Jeopardy!'' operates under a different contract than shows that went on strike, and Jennings was therefore not crossing picket lines. The show returned for season 40 in late 2023, using a mix of recycled material and newly-written questions made before the strike; the program had also made a similar move during the 2007–08 strike.


Writing career and other media

After his initial success on ''Jeopardy!'', Jennings secured a book deal, and left his career as a programmer to pursue his original love of writing. ''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, and was published in 2006. ''Ken Jennings' Trivia Almanac: 8,888 Questions in 365 Days'', a hardcover book, is a compilation of trivia questions—with three 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 has written and edited literature and mythology questions for the National Academic Quiz Tournaments (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. Jennings had a weekly trivia column, Ken''nections,'' in '' Parade'' 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. Jennings also had a column in ''
Mental Floss ''Mental Floss'' (stylized as ''mental_floss'') is an American online magazine and digital, print, and e-commerce media company focused on millennials. It is owned by Minute Media, an international digital media publisher based in London, Engla ...
'' 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 game. The column ran from November 2005 to the September–October 2010 issue. Jennings also wrote a trivia newsletter called Trivia Tuesday, which ran from 2006 to 2021. Every Tuesday, beginning on 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's blog. Every 10 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 the email. Outside of his writing career, 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, a rookie is typically considered needing more tra ...
division of the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament in 2006. He was 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. He also competed regularly in LearnedLeague under the name "JenningsK". His 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.


Other television and game show appearances

In the aftermath of his ''Jeopardy!'' fame, Jennings signed with the United Talent Agency, which hoped to expand him into a commercial pitchman or TV host. In 2005 and 2006, he engaged in several endorsements, including a deal with
Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company, technology conglomerate headquartered in Redmond, Washington. Founded in 1975, the company became influential in the History of personal computers#The ear ...
to promote its ''
Encarta Microsoft ''Encarta'' is a discontinued Digital data, digital multimedia encyclopedia and search engine published by Microsoft from 1993 to 2009. Originally sold on CD-ROM or DVD, it was also available online via annual subscription, although ...
'' encyclopedia software, and Cingular Wireless (now
AT&T AT&T Inc., an abbreviation for its predecessor's former name, the American Telephone and Telegraph Company, is an American multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered at Whitacre Tower in Downtown Dallas, Texas. It is the w ...
) featured Jennings in commercials portraying him as having lots of "friends and family" (coming out of the woodwork once he began winning on ''Jeopardy!''). He was also involved 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, both correct and incorrect, are recorded on the cards. According to '' Variety'', Jennings was slated to host a new game show for
Comedy Central Comedy Central is an American Cable television in the United States, cable television channel, channel owned by Paramount Global through its Paramount Media Networks, network division's Paramount Media Networks#MTV Entertainment Group, MTV Ente ...
set to premiere in 2005 or 2006, but the project later stalled in development. Michael Davies was attached to produce the project. 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." As of mid-2006, he was still shopping a potential game show titled ''Ken Jennings vs. the Rest of the World''. Davies later joined ''Jeopardy!'' in the 2020s and became its executive producer and showrunner as Jennings assumed the role as host. In the interim years between his stint as contestant and host of ''Jeopardy!'', Jennings appeared of dozens of other game shows. He taped a pilot for a proposed CBS revival of ''Pyramid'', titled '' Million Dollar Pyramid'', and was a contestant on other game shows including '' Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!'' and '' 1 vs. 100'' in 2006, '' Grand Slam'' in 2007, '' Stump the Master'' in 2008–09, '' 500 Questions'' in 2016, and ''
@midnight ''@midnight with Chris Hardwick'' (shortened to and formerly exclusively titled ''@midnight'') is an American late night Internet-themed panel game show, hosted by Chris Hardwick, that aired Monday through Thursday nights between October 21, ...
'' in 2017. His appearance on '' Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?'' in 2008 held the possibility of exceeding Brad Rutter's total game show winnings, had Jennings decided to risk the million dollar question. He also appeared on ''
Who Wants to Be a Millionaire ''Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?'' (WWTBAM) is an international television game show franchise of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? (British game show), British origin, created by David Briggs, Mike Whitehill and Steven Knight. In its format, cu ...
,'' as a frequent expert for the lifeline "Ask the Expert". 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, Jennings would have been right and would have won $250,000. Jennings was one of eight recurring "Trivia Experts" for '' Best Ever Trivia Show'', which debuted in 2019; he was also one of the six trivia experts on ''Best Ever'' successor, '' Master Minds'', from 2020. In November 2020, it was announced that Jennings would be one of the three chasers on the ABC revival of '' The Chase'', hosted by Sara Haines with Rutter and Holzhauer as the other chasers, joined by Mark Labbett in season 2. Jennings left after the second season. In May 2023, he competed against Mayim Bialik and Vanna White on an episode of '' Celebrity Wheel of Fortune'', winning $72,800 for the Equal Justice Initiative. Outside of game shows, Jennings appeared on multiple episodes of '' Doug Loves Movies'', hosted by Doug Benson. 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, term ...
unveiled a new show entitled ''Omnibus'', co-hosted by Jennings and John Roderick, frontman of the indie-rock band The Long Winters. They pick topics they fear might be lost to history and discuss them. Jennings also 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 sch ...
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.


Records

Jennings, who won $2,522,700 on his initial ''Jeopardy!'' run, held the title of the highest-earning American game show contestant from November 30, 2004 until March 25, 2025, when his record was broken by David Genat, an Australian model and television personality who won $5,800,000 on '' Deal or No Deal Island''. Jennings has won money on five different game shows, including $4,522,700 on the American game show ''
Jeopardy! ''Jeopardy!'' is an American television 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 g ...
''. He also holds the record for the longest winning streak on ''Jeopardy!'' with 74 consecutive wins, and 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, Jennings won 74 consecutive ''Jeopardy!'' games before he was defeated by challenger Nancy Zerg in his 75th appearance. Jennings's 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 $1,000,000 first-place prize in '' Jeopardy! The Greatest of All Time'' (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 appearances 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's 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, in a special primetime series, ''Jeopardy! The Greatest of All Time''.


Recognition

On March 3, 2020, the Washington State Legislature approved Senate Resolution 8704, congratulating Jennings for his achievements on game shows.


Filmography


Bibliography

* * * * * * * * * * * * , with
Martin Gardner Martin Gardner (October 21, 1914May 22, 2010) was an American popular mathematics and popular science writer with interests also encompassing magic, scientific skepticism, micromagic, philosophy, religion, and literatureespecially the writin ...
* *


See also

* List of notable ''Jeopardy!'' contestants * Strategies and skills of ''Jeopardy!'' champions


References


External links

*
Omnibus podcast web site
* Jennings's February 2013 TED talk (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 expatriates in Singapore American expatriates in South Korea American game show hosts American male bloggers American advice podcasters American software engineers Audiobook narrators Brigham Young University alumni Contestants on American game shows Latter Day Saints from Utah Latter Day Saints from Washington (state) Living people People from Edmonds, Washington Utah Democrats University of Washington alumni Washington (state) Democrats Writers from Salt Lake City Writers from Seattle Critics of artificial intelligence