Ken Jennings

Kenneth Wayne Jennings III (born May 23, 1974) is an American game show host, former contestant, and author. He is best known for his success and streak as a contestant on the syndicated quiz show Jeopardy!, which he now hosts. Jennings was born in Edmonds, Washington, but grew up in South Korea and Singapore. He worked as a software engineer before auditioning for Jeopardy! in 2004. During his initial run, Jennings won 74 consecutive games, becoming the highest-earning American game show contestant (a title he held for over 20 years) and bringing significant media attention and viewership.

Afterward, 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 was nicknamed "The Professor"), and hosted the Omnibus podcast from 2017 to 2025. Jennings returned to Jeopardy! in 2020 as a producer, and later guest-hosted the program after the death of host Alex Trebek that year. Jennings split full-time hosting duties with Mayim Bialik from 2021 to 2023, when he was made the sole host.

Jennings holds numerous game show records. As of 2025, he is the second highest-earning American game show contestant, having won money on five different programs, including $4,522,700 on Jeopardy!. His original appearance on the program marks the longest winning streak on the show, netting him $2,522,700 over the course of his 75-day run. Despite his major success on Jeopardy!, Jennings does not hold the record for longest winning streak worldwide; that record is held by Ian Lygo, who won 75 games on the British game show 100% in 1998 (Jennings appeared on Jeopardy! for 75 days but won 74 games).<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Jennings also holds the record for highest average correct responses per game and won the Jeopardy! The Greatest of All Time tournament. On July 30, 2025, he and Matt Damon became the second duo and the third celebrities overall to win the $1,000,000 top prize for their charity, Water.org, and the 16th overall million-dollar winners on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. Jennings also won $100,000 on November 17, 2014.

Early life

Kenneth Wayne Jennings III was born on May 23, 1974,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> in Edmonds, Washington, just outside Seattle.<ref name="aboutken" /><ref name="WALeg8704">Template:Cite web</ref> His father was an international lawyer and moved the family to South Korea when Ken was in first grade.<ref name="c497"/><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> His mother was a schoolteacher and worked for the Department of Defense in that capacity overseas.<ref name="q352">Template:Cite web</ref> Jennings grew up viewing Jeopardy! on the American Forces Network.<ref name="c497">Template:Cite web</ref> He lived in Korea and Singapore for 11 years and graduated from the Seoul Foreign School.<ref name="c497"/>

Upon returning to the United States, Jennings attended the University of Washington. He is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> and spent two years as a volunteer missionary in Madrid, Spain. In 1996, Jennings transferred to Brigham Young University (BYU). One of his roommates was author Brandon Sanderson.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Jennings 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.<ref name="aboutken">Template:Cite web</ref> After college, he lived in Salt Lake City and was a software engineer for CHG Healthcare Services, a healthcare placement firm in Holladay, Utah.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Career

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.<ref>Template:Cite press release</ref> 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.<ref name="i712">Template:Cite web</ref> 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 and his young child's toy as a buzzer, and his wife used flash cards and kept score.<ref name="p991"/><ref name="n977">Template:Cite AV media</ref>

Jennings's run began during Jeopardy!Template:'s 20th season with the episode airing on June 2, 2004, in which he unseated two-time champion Jerry Harvey, and continued into season 21. In his first game, Jennings's 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 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.

His streak then underway, Jennings taped 48 episodes before his first one aired.<ref name="p991"/> His last program was taped in September and aired on November 30, 2004, coinciding with the end of the November sweeps.<ref name="a833" /> Jennings lost his 75th game to challenger Nancy Zerg.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> He 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 Final Jeopardy!.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> 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 responded, "What is FedEx?", losing with a final score of $8,799 after his $5,601 wager was deducted.<ref name="a833">Template:Cite web</ref> After his response was revealed, the audience gasped and Zerg appeared shocked to have won. Jennings was awarded $2,000 for his second-place finish, giving him a 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 both contestants a standing ovation and Trebek called Zerg a "giant killer" as Jennings embraced her.<ref name="m782">Template:Cite web</ref> According to the Associated Press, rumors of Jennings's defeat began circulating shortly after the episode was taped, and footage had leaked online by November 29.<ref name="l079">Template:Cite web</ref>

Overall, Jennings gave over 2,700 correct responses on the program.<ref name="m782" /> His run was interrupted by the off-season break (July to September), 2004 Kids' Week, the Tournament of Champions (September 20 to October 1), the 2004 United States presidential election (November 2, when no first-run episode was scheduled; the remaining episodes of the week aired from Wednesday to Saturday), and the College Championship (November 10 to 23). As a result, Jennings went five months without a loss. He did not participate in the Tournament of Champions, as invitations are extended to only those champions (four wins or more) who have been defeated, with the exception of the winner(s) of the College Championship. On December 1, the day after his defeat, Jennings made a guest appearance at the start of the broadcast, during which Trebek acknowledged his success and enumerated the various game show records he had broken.<ref>Template:Cite webTemplate:Cbignore</ref>

Impact and television ratings

Jennings's 75 episodes were broadcast over 182 calendar days. His run brought significant media attention and television ratings. According to the Nielsen TV National People Meter, Jeopardy!Template:'s ratings were 22% higher during Jennings's run than during the same period in 2003.<ref name="l079"/> For several weeks of the streak, Jeopardy! was TV's highest-rated syndicated program,<ref>Template:Cite press release</ref> with ratings 30% higher than before Jennings's appearance.<ref name="i712"/> By the end of Jeopardy!Template:'s 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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> 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.<ref name="m782"/>

The attention changed Jennings' life, making him a household name.<ref name="i712"/> Jennings guested on several TV shows, including The Tonight Show, Nightline,<ref name="m782"/> Live with Regis and Kelly,<ref name="l079"/> Sesame Street,<ref name="y043">Template:Cite web</ref> and the Late Show with David Letterman, where he read the Top Ten List of Ways To Irritate Alex Trebek.<ref name="b825">Template:Cite web</ref> 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.<ref name="m782"/> Taking advantage of the notoriety of Jennings's losing Final Jeopardy! answer, H&R Block offered Jennings free tax planning and financial services for life,<ref>Template:Cite press release</ref> with a senior vice president for the company estimating that he owed about $1.04 million in taxes on his winnings.<ref name="hrblock">Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> BBDO created an advertisement for FedEx in the USA Today newspaper three days after his final game reading "There's only one time FedEx has ever been the wrong answer" and congratulating Jennings on his streak.<ref name="Sherman 2004">Template:Cite web</ref> Barbara Walters named him one of her 10 Most Fascinating People of 2004.<ref name="x289">Template:Cite web</ref> In a 2011 Reddit AMA, Jennings recalled that in 2004 the Democratic politicians Chuck Schumer and Harry Reid asked him to run for the United States Senate from Utah. He wrote, "That was when I realized the Democratic Party was [screwed] in '04".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> At the end of the decade, Entertainment Weekly 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?"<ref>Geier, Thom, Jensen, Jeff, Jordan, Tina, Lyons, Margaret, Markovitz, Adam, Nashawaty, Chris, Pastorek, Whitney, Rice, Lynette, Rottenberg, Josh, Schwartz, Missy, Slezak, Michael, Snierson, Dan, Stack, Tim, Stroup, Kate, Tucker, Ken; Vary, Adam B., Vozick-Levinson, Simon, Ward, Kate (December 11, 2009), "THE 100 Greatest Movies, TV Shows, Albums, Books, Characters, Scenes, Episodes, Songs, Dresses, Music Videos, and Trends That Entertained Us Over the Past 10 Years". Entertainment Weekly. (1079/1080):74-84</ref>

Jennings donated 10% of his winnings to the LDS Church.<ref name="a833"/><ref name="l079"/> His streak also made an impact backstage, with the producers implementing some changes during his run. Normally, contestants get only 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.<ref name="p991">Template:Cite web</ref> 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 season 21. At one point, announcer Johnny Gilbert stopped announcing Jennings's total wins during the show's opening.Template:Citation needed

Jennings's losing episode can be seen on the 2005 DVD release of Jeopardy!: An Inside Look at America's Favorite Quiz Show. In 2023 his entire run was made available for the first time, streaming on Pluto TV.<ref name="o886">Template:Cite web</ref>

Tournaments

File:Ken Jennings.jpg

Jennings in 2005

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 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 Rutter temporarily displaced him as the highest overall money winner on game shows.

Jennings returned for the 2011 "IBM 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.<ref name="Smartest Machine on Earth">Template:Cite web</ref> Watson won, earning $1,000,000 for two charities. 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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The competition ended with Watson with $77,147, Jennings with $24,000, and Rutter with $21,600.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Below his response during the Final Jeopardy! round, Jennings wrote, "I for one welcome our new computer overlords." It was the first time Rutter had been defeated by a 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.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Jennings participated in the 2014 Jeopardy! Battle of the Decades tournament, making the finals along with Rutter and Roger Craig. Jennings finished in second place, winning $100,000, and Rutter won, earning $1,000,000. 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) for "Team Ken".<ref name=TeamJeopardy>Template:Cite news</ref> Team Ken finished second to the team captained by Rutter, with Jennings winning $100,000, one-third of the $300,000 second-place prize.<ref name=TeamJeopardy/> In January 2020, ABC aired the Jeopardy! Greatest of All Time tournament between Jennings, Rutter, and James Holzhauer. Jennings won the championship, earning the "Greatest of All Time" title and a $1,000,000 prize,<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> bringing his lifetime Jeopardy! winnings to $3,522,700.

Hosting

File:Ken Jennings 2019.png

Jennings in 2019

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.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Alex Trebek, the longtime host of Jeopardy!, had been diagnosed with stage four pancreatic cancer the previous year. Trebek taped his final episode of the program on October 29, 2020.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Contingency plans were made for him to miss the next taping, scheduled for November 9–10, as he planned to have surgery.<ref name="Jeopardy Podcast">Template:Cite podcast</ref> Supervising producers Lisa Broffman and Rock Schmidt named Jennings the interim host for the taping and Jennings had a final conversation with Trebek days before the rehearsal was set to commence.<ref name="vul">Template:Cite web</ref> The rehearsal was scheduled for November 8 but was canceled when Schmidt informed the staff that Trebek had died that day.<ref name="Jeopardy Podcast"/>

Jennings was widely viewed as an heir to the role as host;<ref name="b743">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="c171">Template:Cite web</ref> Trebek had also reportedly considered Jennings his rightful successor.<ref name="vul"/><ref name="d713">Template:Cite web</ref> Trebek's widow, Jean, gave Jennings a pair of cufflinks Trebek wore as a gift before his first taping as host.<ref name="e633">Template:Cite web</ref> Jennings was announced as the first in a series of guest hosts in November 2020.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> His episodes aired from January 11 to February 19, 2021.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Later, The Wall Street Journal reported that 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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

After a brief period in which presenter Mike Richards was named host and soon dismissed due to controversy,<ref name="d713"/> Jennings resumed hosting the daily syndicated program alongside actress Mayim Bialik, who had also guest-hosted during 2021.<ref name="Hosting-2022">Template:Cite magazine</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The next year, it was announced that Jennings, along with Bialik, would split hosting duties full-time beginning with season 39.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> On ABC, Jennings also began hosting the new Jeopardy! Masters series, a primetime tournament featuring six recent notable Jeopardy! champions competing against each other in a "Champions League-style" format.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The program premiered on May 8, 2023.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

After Bialik withdrew from Jeopardy! on May 11, 2023, due to the 2023 Hollywood labor disputes, Jennings hosted the last 20 episodes of season 39.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Five days later, it was announced that Jennings would host the second season of Celebrity Jeopardy!.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In September, Jennings was nominated for Outstanding Host for a Game Show at the 75th Primetime Emmy Awards.<ref name="Emmys">Template:Cite web</ref> After the strikes were resolved, Jennings became the permanent sole host of Jeopardy! starting with season 40.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> 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."<ref name="u404">Template:Cite web</ref>

2023 Writers Guild of America strike

In May 2023, the Writers Guild of America announced that its unionized writers would strike as part of negotiations largely related to increases in pay, benefits, and protections against artificial intelligence.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Bialik, Jennings's then co-host, refused to participate in the show's final week of taping as a result.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Jennings was reportedly brought in as the host "as a result of Bialik's decision". While this initially led to accusations of strikebreaking,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> 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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The show returned for season 40 in late 2023, using a mix of recycled material and clues written before the strike; the program had made a similar move during the 2007–08 strike.<ref name="h085">Template:Cite web</ref>

Writing career and other media

After his initial success on Jeopardy!, Jennings secured a book deal<ref name="l079"/> and left his career as a programmer to pursue his love of writing.<ref name="c497"/><ref name="a030">Template:Cite web</ref> Brainiac: Adventures in the Curious, Competitive, Compulsive World of Trivia Buffs (2006) details his experiences on Jeopardy! and his research into trivia culture conducted after the completion of his run.<ref name="brainiac">Template:Cite book</ref> 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.<ref>2008, Villard, Template:ISBN</ref> Maphead: Charting the Wide, Weird World of Geography Wonks explores the world of map and geography enthusiasts.<ref name="mapheadC-SPAN2">Template:Cite web, 2011, Scribner, Template:ISBN</ref> Because I Said So! is a humorous examination of "the myths, tales & warnings every generation passes down to its kids".<ref>2012, Scribner, Template:ISBN, ebook Template:ISBN</ref> Jennings has also written five books for his children's series, Junior Genius Guides.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 2018, he published Planet Funny: How Comedy Took Over Our Culture, which analyzes how comedy has taken over mainstream pop culture and everyday life.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Jennings has written and edited literature and mythology questions for the National Academic Quiz Tournaments (NAQT), a quiz bowl organization.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> He 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, Kennections, in Parade magazine.<ref name="'Kennections">Template:Cite web</ref> In it, five questions were posed whose answers were connected to a mystery topic, which 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. The Complete Kennections, a book compiling 1,000 of the puzzles, was published in 2025.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Jennings also had a column in Mental Floss 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.<ref>Template:Cite press release</ref> The column ran from November 2005<ref>Nov–Dec 2005 table of contents for mental floss magazine Template:Webarchive. Accessed October 14, 2008.</ref> to the September–October 2010 issue.<ref>Template:Cite webTemplate:Dead link</ref>

Jennings also wrote a trivia newsletter, "Trivia Tuesday", that ran from 2006 to 2021. Every Tuesday, beginning July 4, 2006, he sent out an email containing seven questions. The seventh, a question asking what several items have in common, was designed to be Google-resistant.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Subscribers responded with the answers to all seven questions and results were maintained on a scoreboard on Jennings's blog.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Every 10 weeks, the respondent with the most seventh questions correct was awarded a signed copy of his newest book. After 800 quizzes, on November 16, 2021, due to increasing commitments related to Jeopardy!, book tours, and running out of material for the seventh question, Jennings discontinued the newsletter.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Jennings won the rookie division of the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament in 2006.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> He was an active member of the trivia app FleetWit, regularly playing in the live trivia races.<ref>To the Fleetest Template:Webarchive, Ken Jennings' Blog. Retrieved March 6, 2018.</ref> As of March 2018, on average, he had answered 89% of questions correctly and won over $2,000.<ref>Ken Jennings Template:Webarchive, FleetWit website. Retrieved March 6, 2018.</ref> He also competed regularly in LearnedLeague under the name "JenningsK".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> 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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Other television and game show appearances

File:Ken Jennings close-up.jpg

Jennings in 2008

In the aftermath of his Jeopardy! fame, Jennings signed with United Talent Agency, which hoped to expand him into a commercial pitchman or TV host.<ref name="m782"/> In 2005 and 2006, he engaged in several endorsements, including a deal with Microsoft to promote its Encarta encyclopedia software, and Cingular Wireless (now AT&T) featured Jennings in commercials portraying him as having lots of "friends and family" coming out of the woodwork once he began winning on Jeopardy!.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> He was also involved in speaking deals through the Massachusetts-based speakers' agency American Program Bureau.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> 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.<ref>Can You Beat Ken? entry, BoardGameGeek website. Retrieved January 23, 2014.</ref>

According to Variety, Jennings was slated to host a new game show for Comedy Central set to premiere in 2005 or 2006, but the project stalled in development. Michael Davies was attached to produce it.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Jennings wrote on his website, "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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Davies later joined Jeopardy! in the 2020s and became its executive producer and showrunner as Jennings assumed the role as host.<ref name="m366">Template:Cite web</ref>

In the years between his stint as contestant and host of Jeopardy!, Jennings appeared on many other game shows. He taped a pilot for a proposed CBS revival of Pyramid titled Million Dollar Pyramid<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite webTemplate:Dead link</ref> and was a contestant on Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and 1 vs. 100 in 2006,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Grand Slam in 2007, Stump the Master in 2008–09, 500 Questions in 2016,<ref>Ken Jennings on '500 Questions': 'Jeopardy' Champ Joins ABC Game 500 Questions Template:Webarchive May 2, 2016</ref> and @midnight in 2017.<ref>Template:Cite webTemplate:Dead linkTemplate:Cbignore</ref> His appearance on Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader? in 2008<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> held the possibility of exceeding Brad Rutter's total game show winnings had Jennings decided to risk the million-dollar question.<ref>Template:Citation</ref> He also appeared on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire as an expert for the lifeline "Ask the Expert". Jennings appeared on Millionaire in 2014 as a contestant during Guinness World Records Edition themed week, winning $100,000 after deciding to walk away on his $250,000 question. If he had gone for it, Jennings would have been right. He returned to the show as a contestant in 2025, paired with Matt Damon, and they won $1,000,000 for Water.org.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="KenMatt">Template:Cite news</ref> Jennings was one of eight recurring "Trivia Experts" for Best Ever Trivia Show, which debuted in 2019;<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> he was also one of the six trivia experts on Best EverTemplate:'s successor, Master Minds, in 2020.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

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,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> joined by Mark Labbett in season 2. Jennings left after the second season.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In May 2023, he competed against Mayim Bialik and Vanna White on an episode of Celebrity Wheel of Fortune,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> winning $72,800 for the Equal Justice Initiative.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Jennings also appeared on multiple episodes of Doug Loves Movies, hosted by Doug Benson. On September 7, 2017, HowStuffWorks unveiled a new show, Omnibus, co-hosted by Jennings and John Roderick, frontman of the indie-rock band The Long Winters.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref><ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> They picked topics they feared might be lost to history and discussed them.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> On August 9, 2019, they announced their separation from iHeartRadio and shifted to a Patreon-funded model.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> On January 1, 2023, the podcast decreased from twice to once a week,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> citing the time required for Jennings's work as Jeopardy! host.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> On September 30, 2025, it was announced that Jennings would leave the podcast as a regular co-host due to his Jeopardy! commitments. He is set to remain as an executive producer of the podcast and occasional guest host.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Jennings also narrated the audiobook 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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Records

Jennings and Rutter alternated as the top two highest-earning American game show contestants until March 25, 2025, when David Genat, an Australian model and television personality, broke Jennings's record by winning $5,800,000 on Deal or No Deal Island.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Jennings has won money on five different game shows, including $4,522,700 on Jeopardy!. He also holds the record for the longest winning streak on Jeopardy! and the record for the highest average correct responses per game (for those contestants with at least 300 correct responses), with 35.9 during his original run (no other contestant has exceeded 30)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and 33.1 overall, including tournaments and special events.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Jennings' total earnings on Jeopardy! are $4,522,700: $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 [[List of Jeopardy! tournaments and events#IBM Challenge|Jeopardy!Template:'s IBM Challenge]] (2011); 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 set 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 Jeopardy! winnings. Jennings regained the record after appearances on several other game shows, culminating with a 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 upon winning the Jeopardy! Battle of the Decades tournament in 2014. In 2020, Jennings faced Rutter again, as well as James Holzhauer, in a special primetime series, Jeopardy! The Greatest of All Time. Jennings won.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>

Recognition

On March 3, 2020, the Washington State Legislature approved Senate Resolution 8704, congratulating Jennings for his achievements on game shows.<ref name="WALeg8704"/><ref>Template:Cite tweet</ref>

Personal life

While studying at Brigham Young University, Jennings met his wife, Mindy Boam; they married in 2000<ref name="c497"/> and have two children.<ref name="aboutken"/><ref name = Yahr>Template:Cite news</ref> After his success on Jeopardy!, Jennings and his family moved to Seattle,<ref name = Yahr/> where he splits his time between writing and hosting Jeopardy!. The show tapes in Culver City, California, but Jennings continues to reside primarily in Seattle Template:As of, flying to Los Angeles twice a month for tapings.<ref name="u729">Template:Cite web</ref>

Controversies

Jennings was an active Twitter user, and some of his tweets sparked controversy. In 2014, Jennings came under criticism for posting "Nothing sadder than a hot person in a wheelchair."<ref name="Ken Jennings Of 'Jeopardy!' Fame Tweets Awful Wheelchair 'Joke'">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="Salon">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="'Jeopardy!' Champ Ken Jennings Under Fire For Insensitive Wheelchair Tweet">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="'Jeopardy' champion Ken Jennings shocks Twitter followers with offensive post">Template:Cite news</ref> It continued to draw controversy for years, drawing condemnation from disability rights activists such as Rebecca Cokley in 2020.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

On November 10, 2015, Jennings was criticized when he tweeted a joke about the death of Daniel Fleetwood, a lifelong Star Wars 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."<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

On May 31, 2017, Jennings tweeted a joke involving Barron Trump, U.S. President Donald Trump's son. After 11-year-old Barron saw an image of Kathy Griffin holding a bloody mask modeled after his father, he believed that 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."<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> After the tweet drew controversy, Jennings said, "The joke doesn't mock Barron. It mocks using him for political cover."<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

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 of the 1980s television character ALF, Jennings responded, "This awful MAGA grandma is my favorite person on Twitter."<ref name="kiro alf">Template:Cite web</ref>

In December 2020, Jennings apologized on Twitter for some of his past tweets and subsequently deleted them.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> A month later, Jennings faced controversy again when his friend and podcast co-host John Roderick posted a Twitter thread in which he claimed to have prevented his nine-year-old daughter from eating until she learned to open a can of baked beans using a manual can opener, which he said took about six hours.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="bbc-outcry-as-bean-dad-forces-hungry-child-to-open-tin-can">Template:Cite news</ref> The incident caused controversial past tweets to resurface in which Roderick made comments that were seen as using antisemitic, homophobic, racist, and other derogatory language. Jennings defended Roderick, saying he was "a loving and attentive dad who ... tells heightened-for-effect stories."<ref name=":1">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="bbc-outcry-as-bean-dad-forces-hungry-child-to-open-tin-can" /><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Work

Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2013	Marie	Self	Episode: Meredith Baxter & Michael Gross
2014, 2025	Who Wants to Be a Millionaire		Jennings won $100,000 in 2014 and $1,000,000 in 2025.
2017	The Simpsons		(voice) Episode: The Caper Chase<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
2022	Call Me Kat	Self (cameo appearance)	Episode: Call Me Ken Jennings<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
2022–2023	The $100,000 Pyramid	Self – Celebrity Player	Episode: Ken Jennings vs Ross Mathews and RuPaul vs Carson Kressley Episode: Deon Cole vs D'arcy Carden and Ken Jennings vs Mario Cantone
2022–present	Celebrity Jeopardy!	Self – Clue Giver	Episode: Quarterfinal #3: Constance Wu, Ike Barinholtz and Jalen Rose
		Self – Host	Seasons 2 and 3
2023	Celebrity Wheel of Fortune	Self – Celebrity Contestant	Episode: Vanna White, Ken Jennings and Mayim Bialik
	Jeopardy! Masters	Self – Host	19 episodes
2025	25 Words or Less	Self – Sub-host	5 episodes
2025	Happy Gilmore 2	Self (cameo appearance)	<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
2025	Platonic	Himself	Episode: "Jeopardy"

Bibliography

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See also

• List of notable Jeopardy! contestants
• Strategies and skills of Jeopardy! champions

External links

• Template:Official website
• Omnibus podcast web site
• Jennings's February 2013 TED talk (video), "Watson, Jeopardy, and me, the obsolete know-it-all"
• Template:IMDb name
• 2006 IMNO Interview with Ken Jennings