Ken Jennings
Born	Kenneth Wayne Jennings III May 23, 1974 (1974-05-23) (age 34) Edmonds, Washington
Occupation	Software engineer 74-time Jeopardy! champion Author

This article is about the Jeopardy! champion. Events 1430 - Siege of Compiègne: Joan of Arc is captured by the Burgundians while leading an army to relieve Compiègne Year 1974 ( MCMLXXIV) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link will display full calendar of the 1974 Gregorian calendar. Edmonds is a city in Snohomish County, Washington, United States. Washington ( is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. Software engineering is the application of a systematic disciplined quantifiable approach to the development operation and maintenance of Software. For other people with the same name, see Ken Jennings (disambiguation). Ken Jennings may refer to people named Ken Jennings, American game show contestant Ken Jennings (actor, American actor

Kenneth Wayne Jennings III (born May 23, 1974) holds the record for the longest winning streak on the U.S. syndicated game show Jeopardy! Jennings won 74 games before he was defeated by challenger Nancy Zerg on his 75th appearance. Events 1430 - Siege of Compiègne: Joan of Arc is captured by the Burgundians while leading an army to relieve Compiègne Year 1974 ( MCMLXXIV) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link will display full calendar of the 1974 Gregorian calendar. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the In Broadcasting, syndication is the sale of the right to broadcast Radio shows and Television shows to multiple individual stations without going through His total earnings on Jeopardy! are US $3,022,700 ($2,520,700 in winnings, a $2,000 2nd-place prize in his 75th appearance, and $500,000 in the Jeopardy! Ultimate Tournament of Champions). The United States dollar ( sign: $; code: USD) is the unit of Currency of the United States; it has also been The Ultimate Tournament of Champions was a special fifteen-week Single-elimination tournament on the syndicated Game show Jeopardy! ^[1] Jennings held the record for most winnings on any game show ever until the end of the Ultimate Tournament of Champions (first aired on May 25, 2005), when he was displaced by Brad Rutter, who defeated Jennings in that tournament. Events 1085 - Alfonso VI of Castile takes Toledo Spain back from the Moors. Year 2005 ( MMV) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link displays full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Winnings dispute There is a discrepancy between sources as to Rutter's total Jeopardy! winnings stemming from the prize structure of the Ultimate Tournament of Champions

After winning, he began working on a book, Brainiac: Adventures in the Curious, Competitive, Compulsive World of Trivia Buffs, which explored American trivia history and culture. Trivia (singular trivium) are unimportant (or "trivial" items especially of information Ken also appeared as a member of the mob (sitting at podium #13) on the game show 1 vs. 100 in 2006, and in 2007 Jennings was the champion of the first season of the US version of Grand Slam. The American version of 1 vs 100 is broadcast by NBC. As in other formats a single player (the 1 goes up against 100 other contestants (the "Mob" Grand Slam is a United States Game show based on the British series of the same name.

Biography

Born in Edmonds, Washington, Jennings grew up in Seoul, South Korea (1981–1992) and Singapore (1992–1996), where his father worked for an international law firm and then as Asia Pacific Division Counsel of Oracle Corporation. Edmonds is a city in Snohomish County, Washington, United States. Seoul ( soʊl is the Capital and largest City of South Korea. South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea and often referred to as Korea ( Korean: 대한민국 tɛː Singapore International law is the term commonly used for referring to the system of implicit and explicit agreements that bind together nation-states in adherence to recognized values and standards Oracle Corporation ( specializes in developing and marketing Enterprise software products — particularly Database management systems In 2007 Oracle ranked ^[2] He watched Jeopardy! on American Forces Network television while growing up. American Forces Network (or AFN) is the brand name used by the United States Armed Forces Radio and Television Service (AFRTS for its entertainment ^[3]

Jennings graduated with a degree in Computer Science and English at Brigham Young University, where he played on the school's quizbowl team for three and a half years. A degree is any of a wide range of status levels conferred by institutions of Higher education, such as universities, normally as the result of successfully completing Computer science (or computing science) is the study and the Science of the theoretical foundations of Information and Computation and their English studies is an academic discipline that includes the study of Literatures written in the English language (including literatures from the U Quizbowl (also known as Quiz Bowl, Scholastic Bowl, Brain Bowl, Academic Team, Academic Varsity Bowl, Academic Challenge He graduated from Seoul Foreign School where he completed an International Baccalaureate diploma, and achieved honors at Brigham Young. The International Baccalaureate (IB Diploma Programme (DP is an Educational programme examined in one of three languages ( English, French or Spanish Jennings attended the University of Washington during his freshman year. See Washington (disambiguation for other uses The University of Washington, founded in 1861, is a public research University ^[4]

Jennings is a Mormon, a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. TalkMormon#Latter Day Saint vs Latter-day Saint --> Mormon The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the fourth largest Christian denomination in the United States and the largest and most well-known He served a two-year mission in Madrid, Spain from 1993 to 1995. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church is one of the most active modern practitioners of Missionary work with over 50000 full-time missionaries Madrid (pronounced in English in Spanish and colloquially in Spain) is the Capital and largest city of Spain. Spain () or the Kingdom of Spain (Reino de España is a country located mostly in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula.

Now residing just outside Seattle, Washington, Jennings identifies himself as an avid comic book and movie buff with a website listing his top 4,000 favorite movies. A comic book (often shortened to simply comic and sometimes called a comic paper or comic magazine) is a Magazine or Book of narrative He also writes questions for, edits the literature and mythology categories of questions of, and is otherwise active in the National Academic Quiz Tournaments (NAQT), a quiz bowl organization^[5]; in particular, he moderated (i. Literature is the Art of written works Literally translated the word means "acquaintance with letters" (from Latin littera letter The word mythology (from the Greek grc μυθολογία mythología, meaning "a story-telling a legendary lore" National Academic Quiz Tournaments LLC is a question-writing and Quizbowl organizing company founded by former players in 1996. e. read questions) at the 2005 and 2006 NAQT National High School Tournaments in Chicago. Chicago (ʃɪˈkɑːgoʊ is the largest City by population in the state of Illinois and the American Midwest of the United States.

During his Jeopardy! winning streak, Jennings was a software engineer for CHG Healthcare[2], a healthcare-placement firm in Salt Lake City, Utah. Software engineering is the application of a systematic disciplined quantifiable approach to the development operation and maintenance of Software. Salt Lake City is the Capital and the most populous city of the U The State of Utah (ˈjuːtɔː or) is a western state of the United States.

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

Streak on Jeopardy!

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

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

Jennings had long prepared for Jeopardy! by competing on BYU's Quiz Bowl Team. Jennings also studied the book How to Get on Jeopardy! and Win by 1996 Jeopardy! Tournament of Champions winner Michael Dupee. Jennings's run began during Jeopardy!'s 20th season with the episode aired on Wednesday, June 2, 2004, and continued into Season 21. Events 455 - The Vandals enter Rome, and plunder the city for two weeks "MMIV" redirects here For the Modest Mouse album see " Baron von Bullshit Rides Again " The 2004 Tournament of Champions (aired from September 20, 2004 through October 1, 2004) was taped without his participation, as he was not yet defeated. The Jeopardy! Tournament of Champions is a tournament held more or less annually featuring the longest-running champions from the past season or seasons of the TV quiz show Events 451 - The Battle of Chalons takes place in North Eastern France. "MMIV" redirects here For the Modest Mouse album see " Baron von Bullshit Rides Again " Events 331 BC - Alexander the Great defeats Darius III of Persia in the Battle of Gaugamela. "MMIV" redirects here For the Modest Mouse album see " Baron von Bullshit Rides Again " (In theory, if Jennings had remained undefeated through the 2004-2005 season, there would not have been a Tournament of Champions for that season because Jennings would have been the sole champion. )

On November 30, 2004, Jennings' long reign as Jeopardy! champion ended when he lost his seventy-fifth game to challenger Nancy Zerg. Events 1700 - Battle of Narva — A Swedish army of 8500 men under Charles XII defeats "MMIV" redirects here For the Modest Mouse album see " Baron von Bullshit Rides Again " ^[9] Heading into Final Jeopardy, the third contestant, David Hankins, had a negative score and thus was not allowed to participate. Jennings responded incorrectly to both Double Jeopardy! Daily Doubles, losing him a combined $10,400 because of his high wagers, and the Final Jeopardy! clue, which lost him an additional $5,601. The Final Jeopardy! category was Business & Industry, and the clue was "Most of this firm's 70,000 seasonal white-collar employees work only 4 months a year". White-collar worker refers to a salaried professional or an educated Worker who performs semi-professional office administrative and sales coordination tasks as opposed to The correct response was "What is H&R Block?"; Jennings responded with "What is FedEx?"

Zerg responded correctly, and she and Jennings shook hands and hugged as the audience gave him a standing ovation. H&R Block ( is a Tax preparation company in the United States claiming more than 22 million customers worldwide with offices in Canada Australia and the United Kingdom FedEx Corporation ( is a Logistics services company based in the United States. Immediately after she won, Alex Trebek dubbed her a "giant-killer" for her accomplishment of finally beating the long-standing champ. George Alexander "Alex" Trebek (born July 22 1940 is an Emmy Award -winning Canadian - American Jennings's final total, along with his consolation prize for finishing in second place, was $2,522,700. Jennings' running time period totaled 182 calendar days, including his first and last appearances.

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

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

On December 1, 2004, the show broke with tradition by having Jennings make a "guest appearance" at the start of the broadcast, during which host Alex Trebek acknowledged his success and enumerated the various game show records he had broken. Events 800 - Charlemagne judges the accusations against Pope Leo III in the Vatican "MMIV" redirects here For the Modest Mouse album see " Baron von Bullshit Rides Again " George Alexander "Alex" Trebek (born July 22 1940 is an Emmy Award -winning Canadian - American

Ratings impact

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

Other media appearances

Jennings has received a good deal of American media coverage. After his 31st win on Jeopardy!, during the summer break between tapings, Jennings made a guest appearance on Live with Regis and Kelly. Live with Regis and Kelly is a syndicated American television Talk show, hosted by Regis Philbin and Kelly Ripa. There Jennings revealed that he had failed to qualify for Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, once hosted by Regis Philbin. In the United States, Who Wants to Be a Millionaire (also known simply as Millionaire) is a Television Game show which Regis Francis Xavier Philbin (born August 25, 1931) is an Emmy Award -winning American Television personality and occasional Actor During that guest appearance, Jennings said, "Jeopardy! is a man's game. . . it's not like Millionaire. "^[12]

Jennings appeared on The Late Show with David Letterman to present Letterman's "Top Ten List. The Late Show with David Letterman is an Emmy Award -winning American late-night Talk show hosted by David Letterman on CBS David Michael Letterman (born April 12, 1947) is an American late-night Talk show host and Comedian and the host since 1993 " He appeared again on the program on the night his final show was televised, in addition to interview segments airing that night on local 11 p. m. news programming and on Nightline. Barbara Walters selected Jennings as one of the "Ten Most Fascinating People of 2004" for her twelfth annual ABC News special, which aired on December 8, 2004. Barbara Jill Walters (born September 25 1929) is an American Journalist, writer and media This article is about the American news organization See also ABC News (disambiguation ABC News is a division of American Events 1609 - Biblioteca Ambrosiana opens its reading room the second public library of Europe. "MMIV" redirects here For the Modest Mouse album see " Baron von Bullshit Rides Again " While on his media tour following his final game, Jennings taped a segment for a future episode of Sesame Street. Sesame Street is an American educational Children's television series and a pioneer of the contemporary educational television standard combining TV Guide featured a segment of "The Top Ten TV Moments of 2004", in which Ken Jennings' loss placed third. TV Guide is the name of a North American weekly magazine about television programming

A&E aired on December 1, 2004 an episode of the Biography television program on Jennings and other Jeopardy! notables, including Frank Spangenberg and Eddie Timanus. A&E is a cable and Satellite television network with headquarters in Manhattan and offices in Stamford, Atlanta, Events 800 - Charlemagne judges the accusations against Pope Leo III in the Vatican "MMIV" redirects here For the Modest Mouse album see " Baron von Bullshit Rides Again " Biography is a Documentary television series. Originally produced by CBS in 1962 and hosted by Mike Wallace, the A&E Network Frank Spangenberg (born July 26, 1957) is an New York Police Department Police officer who garnered fame in 1990 when he set the Eddie Timanus (born 1969 in Kansas City Missouri) is a Jeopardy! champion and USA Today sportswriter who grew-up

He also appeared twice on NPR's Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me program. Wait Wait… Don't Tell Me! is an hour-long weekly radio News quiz Game show produced by Chicago Public Radio and National Public Radio In his Feb. 25, 2006 appearance he answered all three questions correctly leading him to say "This is, this is the proudest moment of my game show life. "[4]

In 2006, Jennings was a celebrity member of the Mob on 1 vs. 100, beginning with its October 13 premiere. The American version of 1 vs 100 is broadcast by NBC. As in other formats a single player (the 1 goes up against 100 other contestants (the "Mob" Events 54 - Nero ascends to the Roman throne 409 - Vandals and Alans crossed the Pyrenees He was eliminated on October 20 when he missed a question about roulette, leaving with winnings of $741. Events 1740 - Maria Theresa takes the throne of Austria. France, Prussia, Bavaria and Saxony 29 (part of a $35,000 prize shared among 49 Mob members). He made another appearance on February 9, 2007 on a special episode that brought back a number of notable mob members for a winner-take-all showdown; there, he was eliminated from the final five on a question about which celebrity had had the most marriages. Events 474 - Zeno crowned as co-emperor of the Byzantine Empire. Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. If he had won this tournament, his $100,000 prize for winning Grand Slam would have returned Ken to first place in the game show winnings world.

Jennings is the champion of the 2007 US version of Grand Slam, a single elimination tournament among top quiz show contestants. Grand Slam is a United States Game show based on the British series of the same name.

After Jeopardy!

When asked what he intended to do with his winnings, Jennings said that he intended to tithe ten percent to his church, donate to public television and National Public Radio, go on a trip to Europe, and invest the rest for his family. A tithe (from Old English teogoþa "tenth" is a one-tenth part of something paid as a (usually voluntary contribution or as a Tax or levy The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the fourth largest Christian denomination in the United States and the largest and most well-known Public broadcasting refers to radio television and other electronic media outlets that receive some or all of their funding from the public Jeopardy! contestants typically receive their winnings approximately 120 days after their last game airs in the form of a check. Taking advantage of its notoriety from the crucial clue, H&R Block offered Jennings free financial services for the rest of his life. ^[13] H&R Block senior vice president David Byers estimated that Jennings would owe approximately $1. 04 million in taxes on his winnings. Combined with a ten percent tithe, this would leave him approximately $1,230,430 to use for other purposes.

According to Variety.com, Jennings and television producer Michael Davies teamed up as executive producers on a new game show format for Comedy Central. Variety is a weekly entertainment trade newspaper founded in New York in 1905 by Sime Silverman Michael Davies is a British producer of television game shows in the United States. Comedy Central is an American Cable television and Satellite television channel that carries predominantly Comedy programming According to Comedy Central execs, it was planned that Jennings would co-host and participate. ^[14] The series was planned to air in late 2005 or the first quarter of 2006, but as of April 2006, development had stalled, and the show's future remains uncertain. Jennings explained on his website that "Stephen Colbert's show was doing so well in its post-Daily Show spot that Comedy Central decided they weren't in the market for a quiz show anymore. The Colbert Report (/kolˈbɛr rəˈpɔr/&mdashthe t is silent in "Colbert" is a Peabody Award and Emmy Award winning American The Daily Show (known in its current incarnation as The Daily Show " However, he is still shopping for a network for a potential game show titled, "Ken Jennings vs. the Rest of the World. "^[15]

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

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

Jennings also has a column in Mental Floss magazine, in which readers give him two wildly different things and he has to connect them in exactly six moves, much in the same vein as the Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon. mental_floss is a bi-monthly American magazine launched in 2001 in Birmingham Alabama, that presents facts and Trivia in a humorous way The Trivia Game Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon is based on the concept of the Small world phenomenon and rests on the assumption that any Actor can ^[16]

Ken Jennings also appeared on the NBC game show 1 vs. 100 on October 13, 2006 as a mob member. The American version of 1 vs 100 is broadcast by NBC. As in other formats a single player (the 1 goes up against 100 other contestants (the "Mob" Events 54 - Nero ascends to the Roman throne 409 - Vandals and Alans crossed the Pyrenees Year 2006 ( MMVI) was a Common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. Ken was a mob member until he lost on the second episode. The question Ken Jennings answered incorrectly was "What color is the number 1 space on a standard roulette wheel?" While the correct answer is red, Jennings answered black. ^[17] Jennings also appeared in a special "Last Man Standing" episode of the show on February 9, 2007. Events 474 - Zeno crowned as co-emperor of the Byzantine Empire. Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. He was eliminated on the final question, where he was asked who of a selection of three people were married the most times. He answered King Henry VIII, while the correct answer was Larry King. Henry VIII (28 June 1491 &ndash 28 January 1547 was King of England and Lord of Ireland, later King of Ireland and claimant to the Kingdom of Larry King (born November 19, 1933) is an American television/radio host This episode was the first time Jennings had a chance at a rematch against rival Brad Rutter. Winnings dispute There is a discrepancy between sources as to Rutter's total Jeopardy! winnings stemming from the prize structure of the Ultimate Tournament of Champions After waiting three years, Jennings finally beat Rutter by making it to the final 5, whereas Rutter only lasted to top 25.

In Summer 2007 Jennings appeared as a contestant on the game show Grand Slam hosted by Dennis Miller and Amanda Byram. Grand Slam is a United States Game show based on the British series of the same name. Dennis Miller (born November 3, 1953) is an American Stand-up comedian, political/sports commentator, and television/radio personality Amanda Byram (born December 14, 1973, in Dublin, Ireland) is an Irish Television personality, originally from Castleknock The show debuted on GSN on August 4, 2007, and featured sixteen former game-show winners in a single-elimination tournament. Events 70 - The Destruction of the Second Temple in Jerusalem by the Romans. Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. Jennings, the second seed in the 16-player tournament, won the competition and became the 2007 Grand Slam Champion after defeating Ogi Ogas in the finals. (Ogas had defeated Rutter in an earlier round. )

Blog entry misinterpreted as critical of Jeopardy!

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

"Nobody knows he died in that fiery truck crash a few years back and was immediately replaced with the Trebektron 4000 (I see your engineers still can't get the mustache right, by the way). "

"You're like the Dorian Gray of syndication. The Picture of Dorian Gray is the only published Novel written by Oscar Wilde, first appearing as the lead story in Lippincott's Monthly Magazine You seem to think 'change' means replacing a blue polyethylene backdrop with a slightly different shade of blue polyethylene backdrop every presidential election or so. "^[20]

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

Fourth, why are there no physical challenges? It doesn’t have to be Nickelodeon déclassé, buckets of green ooze falling from the ceiling. Nickelodeon (commonly referred to as Nick) is an American Cable television network owned by Viacom International, founded in 1977 as Pinwheel You Can't Do That on Television ( YCDTOTV) was a Canadian children's Television program, created by Roger Price and It could be tasteful and restrained. Like, if you know the answer, you have to run from your podium to the game board, jump up to touch the clue in question, and give the answer. “What is an Arby-Q?” Then you run back to your podium to select again. Some of these contestants, frankly, could use the exercise. Oh, also, there are angry bees. ^[19]

Jennings responded on his blog saying,

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

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

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

Jennings also appeared on The Colbert Report on September 14, 2006. The Colbert Report (/kolˈbɛr rəˈpɔr/&mdashthe t is silent in "Colbert" is a Peabody Award and Emmy Award winning American Events 81 - Domitian becomes Emperor of the Roman Empire upon the death of his brother Titus. Year 2006 ( MMVI) was a Common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. During the interview, Colbert discussed Jennings' book, Brainiac and mocked him not knowing how many pages the book contained. Dr Stephen T Colbert DFA (koʊɫˈbεɹ is the After Colbert coined a word to describe intellectual nerdiness, poindexterity. Jennings stated that after winning on Jeopardy!, he ceased to be a "poindexter". Jennings noted, as he had done earlier that day on NPR's Talk of the Nation that since his streak, people "seem to have an extra-hard trivia question" in case they run into him. Talk of the Nation is a Talk radio program based in the United States, produced by National Public Radio, and is broadcast nationally from 2 In keeping with his hyper-American TV personality, Colbert asked how Jennings could stand Alex Trebek, a Canadian. Country to "Dominion of Canada" or "Canadian Federation" or anything else please read the Talk Page Jennings jokingly responded that "Trebek did not smell of" his native country.

American Crossword Puzzle Tournament

Jennings also won the rookie division of the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament (ACPT) in 2006. For the Walt Disney Pictures film about Jim Morris, see The Rookie (2002 movie. The American Crossword Puzzle Tournament is an annual Crossword -solving Tournament held every March ^[23] In his first time competing, Jennings placed 37th overall.

Ultimate Tournament of Champions

On December 28, 2004, Sony announced a 15-week, 75-show Jeopardy! Ultimate Tournament of Champions. Events 1065 - Westminster Abbey is Consecrated. 1308 - The reign of Emperor Hanazono, Emperor of "MMIV" redirects here For the Modest Mouse album see " Baron von Bullshit Rides Again " The Ultimate Tournament of Champions was a special fifteen-week Single-elimination tournament on the syndicated Game show Jeopardy! It featured Tournament of Champions, College Championship, and Teen Tournament winners from the show's 21-year run, as well as over 100 five-time champions. Jeopardy!'s executive producer, Harry Friedman, explained:

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

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

In the final round of the Ultimate Tournament, Brad Rutter decisively defeated Jennings and Jerome Vered, with respective final scores of $62,000, $34,599, and $20,600. Winnings dispute There is a discrepancy between sources as to Rutter's total Jeopardy! winnings stemming from the prize structure of the Ultimate Tournament of Champions Jerome Vered (born March 13, 1958) is a Studio City, California writer publicly known for his record-setting Jennings won the $500,000 prize for second place, but as a result of the Ultimate Tournament, Rutter displaced him as the highest overall winner of money on a game show. Jennings has said he is still happy with his second-place finish.

Records

During his streak, Jennings broke the following records:

He also tied the following records:

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

* Lygo was forced to retire by producer RTL Group. Events 475 - Byzantine Emperor Zeno is forced to flee his capital at Constantinople.

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

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

Jennings was not eligible for the 2006 Tournament of Champions. By accepting a bye into the Ultimate Tournament of Champions, Jennings was guaranteed $250,000. This bye also required that he give up his right to play in the 2006 Tournament of Champions. Rutter's total of $3,255,102 includes $55,102 in his five days and $3,000,000 in special tournament play, but does not include his two Chevrolet Camaros he won on the game. The Chevrolet Camaro is a " Pony car " made in North America by the Chevrolet Motor Division of General Motors.

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

Game summaries

Comprehensive game summaries for each day of Ken Jennings' streak have been compiled here. The following are comprehensive summaries for each day of Ken Jennings ' streak on the syndicated Game show Jeopardy!.

Loss on Jeopardy! and final statistics

In a rumor disclosed on Wednesday, September 8, 2004, two sources who were at the taping on September 7, 2004 reported that Jennings had lost on his 75th episode, taped the day before, with total winnings at around $2. A rumour or rumor (see spelling differences) is often viewed as "an unverified account or explanation of events circulating from person to person and Events 70 - Roman forces under Titus sack Jerusalem. 1264 - The Statute of Kalisz "MMIV" redirects here For the Modest Mouse album see " Baron von Bullshit Rides Again " Events 1251 BC - A Solar eclipse on this date might mark the birth of legendary Heracles at Thebes Greece. "MMIV" redirects here For the Modest Mouse album see " Baron von Bullshit Rides Again " 5 million. ^[25] (Jeopardy! tapes five shows per day. ) This incident was reported by TV Week and the Associated Press, appearing in hundreds of newspapers across the United States. The Associated Press ( AP) is an American News agency. The AP is a Cooperative owned by its contributing Newspapers radio The United States of America —commonly referred to as the A few days later, another rumor spread giving out an incorrect first name of the contestant who had beaten him. Despite this, Jeopardy! refused to comment.

It was later determined that Jennings had indeed lost as initially reported, with the failing episode shown in most North American cities on Tuesday, November 30, 2004. Events 1700 - Battle of Narva — A Swedish army of 8500 men under Charles XII defeats "MMIV" redirects here For the Modest Mouse album see " Baron von Bullshit Rides Again "

To make it more difficult for viewers to keep track of Ken's progress towards his final episode, in early September 2004 the show's announcer, Johnny Gilbert, ceased mentioning the number of games that Jennings had won, as had been the show's custom. Johnny Gilbert (born July 13, 1924 in Newport News Virginia) is an American Television Game show personality However, some people in the studio audience reported that he was still announcing them, possibly meaning those parts had been edited out of the airing. In any case, during the 74th game, which aired on Monday, November 29, Gilbert resumed announcing the number of games. Events 1777 - San Jose California, is founded as el Pueblo de San José de Guadalupe

Jennings broke almost every game show record in his run. Ian Lygo appeared on the British game show 100% 75 consecutive times and won every game until he was forced to retire by the show's producers. Ian Lygo, from Hemel Hempstead, is the former sole holder of the record for the most consecutive appearances by a contestant on a Television Game show After Jennings' 75th show, he tied Lygo's record of 75 consecutive appearances and, with 74 wins, he almost reached Lygo's record of 75 consecutive game show wins.

Endorsements

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

H&R Block, the firm named in the answer he missed, announced in a press release^[26] that they were offering him a deal for free tax preparation and financial services for the rest of his life. H&R Block ( is a Tax preparation company in the United States claiming more than 22 million customers worldwide with offices in Canada Australia and the United Kingdom According to H&R Block, Jennings could pay over $1. 045 million alone in taxes,^[13][27] more than any quiz show contestant.

Jennings has also agreed to a deal with Microsoft to promote their Encarta encyclopedia software. Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational Computer technology Corporation, which rose to dominate the Home computer Encarta is a Digital Multimedia Encyclopedia published by Microsoft Corporation.

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

University Games produced a Can You Beat Ken? board game, in which players vie against each other and Jennings in an attempt to earn $2. 6 million first. Each question in the game was asked to Jennings, and his answers are recorded on the cards.

The-then SBC Communications and BellSouth cellular telecommunications joint venture Cingular Wireless (now owned by AT&T) signed Jennings to appear in commercials. BellSouth Corporation is an American Telecommunications holding company based in Atlanta Georgia. AT&T Mobility LLC (usually branded AT&T, and formerly named Cingular Wireless LLC) is the wholly owned wireless subsidiary of AT&T Inc Before proposing a merge request please see Talk and see if the merger you propose has recently been made and The first of these commercials, portraying Jennings as having lots of "friends and family" (coming out of the woodwork, because he is now "stinking rich") started airing in February, 2005.

Ken Jennings also appeared on commercials for Allstate Insurance. The Allstate Corporation is the largest publicly held personal lines insurer in the United States and the second-largest of all personal lines insurers in the Also starring Dennis Haysbert, the advertisements parody a typical Final Jeopardy! situation, and parody Ken's usual style of guessing at answers by having him answer the question in a humorous, over-the-top inquisitive fashion. Dennis Dexter Haysbert (born June 2, 1954) is an American Film and Television Actor.

Comedy Central had announced that they had inked a deal for Ken to host a new game show on their network, likely to begin sometime in 2006. Comedy Central is an American Cable television and Satellite television channel that carries predominantly Comedy programming According to Ken Jennings' website, the proposed program was to follow The Daily Show, but due to the success of The Colbert Report, Comedy Central decided against doing a quiz show. The Daily Show (known in its current incarnation as The Daily Show The Colbert Report (/kolˈbɛr rəˈpɔr/&mdashthe t is silent in "Colbert" is a Peabody Award and Emmy Award winning American Jennings hopes that the show, ". . . modestly titled Ken Jennings vs. the Rest of the World", will be produced for some other network. ^[28]

Ken Jennings in pop culture

• On an episode of the FOX sketch comedy Mad TV, Alex Trebek, played by Ike Barinholtz, urges the other contestants to buzz in before Jennings, played by Ron Pederson. Sketch comedy consists of a series of short Comedy scenes or vignettes called "sketches" commonly between one and ten minutes long MADtv, is an American Sketch comedy television series based on the humor magazine Mad. George Alexander "Alex" Trebek (born July 22 1940 is an Emmy Award -winning Canadian - American Trebek is so fed up with Jennings' winning streak that he shoots the champ, who turns out to be a robot.

Trivia and trademarks

• During game 53 of his streak, Jennings was given the clue "This term for a long-handled gardening tool can also mean an immoral pleasure seeker. " Without missing a beat, Jennings replied, "What's a ho(e)?" Trebek replied "No", caught the audience's laughter, and said, "Whoa, whoa, whoa! They teach you that in school in Utah, huh?" (The correct response was "What is a rake?")
• On ESPN's Pardon the Interruption, Jennings was often referred to by panelists Tony Kornheiser and Michael Wilbon as "Ken Jeopardy", and his success was noted on the show at milestone points, such as when he reached 50 straight wins and $1 million. A rake is defined as a man habituated to immoral conduct Rakes are frequently Stock characters in novels ESPN, originally an acronym for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network, is an American Cable television network dedicated to Pardon the Interruption (abbreviated PTI) is a Sports television show that airs weekdays on various ESPN TV channels Anthony Irwin Kornheiser (born July 13, 1948) is an American sportswriter and former columnist for The Washington Post, as well Michael Raymond Wilbon (born November 19, 1958) is an American sportswriter and columnist Also, on ESPN's SportsCenter, Several of his early wins were recorded in the show's daily "Top 10" plays segment. SportsCenter is a daily Sports news Television show and the flagship program of American Cable network ESPN since the network
• He kept a plush "Totoro" toy from the movie My Neighbor Totoro in his pocket as a good luck charm. is a 1988 Japanese anime film written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki and produced by Studio Ghibli.
• During his college speaking tour, he admitted that the strangest fan gift he ever received was Popo, a stuffed pillow.

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

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

See also

• American game show winnings records
• Tom Walsh, the record holder previous to Jennings
• David Madden, currently holds the greatest winning streak since Jennings
• Jennings' book, Brainiac: Adventures in the Curious, Competitive, Compulsive World of Trivia Buffs

References

External links

• Ken Jennings official web site
• Jeopardy! web site
• Ken's Top 2000 Favorite Movies Page
• Ken Jennings at the Internet Movie Database
• This Is... Jennings!
• 2006 IMNO Interview with Ken Jennings

News

• "Jeopardy!Whiz Jennings Loses", Fox News
• "'Jeopardy!' to hold 'Super Tournament'", Fox News