The soft-spoken software engineer Ken Jennings, who is Jeopardy!'s longest-running champ, could finally get beaten and booted off the pre-taped show tonight after a record 75 appearances, according to numerous Web reports.
With $2.5-million in his back pocket, the 30-year-old Jennings has earned the title of highest-earning player ever on a syndicated quiz show.
Yesterday, a two-minute audio clip was circulated on the Web, including the question that is reported to have stumped this king of quiz. Sudbury, Ont.-native Alex Trebek, Jeopardy!'s host, can be heard saying, "The category is business and industry, and here is the clue, ladies and gentlemen: Most of this firm's 70,000 seasonal, white-collar employees work only four months a year?"
The theme song starts. "You have 30 seconds," says Trebek. "Good luck."
Well, if the trivia pundits are correct, Jennings finally chokes.
A contestant named Nancy guesses H&R Block. Jennings writes FedEx.
Trebek yells, "Nancy, you're right!" The crowd groans, long and loud.
Sounding like the cat who swallowed the proverbial canary, Trebek wraps up the final minutes of the show: "Nancy Zern, congratulations! You are indeed a giant killer. A new Jeopardy! champion at $14,401!" Then the host continues. "All good things have to come to an end, don't they? Well, too bad for Ken. But he's going home with a lot of money -- $2½-million [U.S] Congratulations young man."
Apparently, most fans of the show will see this Jeopardy! episode tonight, while folks on the West Coast will have to wait until Wednesday because ABC pre-empts the broadcast for Monday Night Football.
This cherub-faced, devout Mormon kicked off his Jeopardy! juggernaut in early June, when he started the slow and steady decimation of every competitor he came up against.
By mid-September, Jennings was a household word, appearing on The Late Show with David Letterman and even providing inspiration for a T-shirt sold on eBay that read: "There are now three constants in life: death, taxes and Ken Jennings."
Rumours began circulating in mid-September that his time would be up by the end of November -- a nice wrap, coincidentally, with the fall ratings sweeps. According to Nielsen Media Research, Jennings was a bona fide hit as Jeopardy!'s average number of viewers rose from 9.6 million in June to 15 million in July, even beating the game-show ratings champ Wheel of Fortun e. And he did it all without marrying a bachelorette, getting fired spectacularly, racing across a remote desert, or eating sheep's guts.
Yesterday, Jeopardy Productions in Culver City, Calif., refused to comment on the widespread rumours of Jenning's fall. "We cannot comment on any continuing champions," said one spokesperson.
The cult of Ken Jennings became so pervasive he got a J.Lo moniker: His nickname is KenJen. But who is this soft-spoken guy who, for months, could not be beat?
Apparently, a quiet-living nobody from Salt Lake City, married to a nice woman named Mindy, with a son named Dylan, a Lab named Banjo and a computer degree from Brigham Young University. He doesn't drink and plans to give a portion of his winnings to his church. Since his early years, he has been fanatically addicted to trivia, and in his spare time writes questions for the National Academic Quiz Tournaments organization.
Jennings is now the top TV game-show contestant of all time, beating a previous record of roughly $2.2-million set by Michigan engineer Kevin Olmstead on ABC's Who Wants to Be a Millionaire.
Steve Beverly, a broadcasting professor at Union University in Jackson, Tenn., believes Jennings will be long-remembered by Jeopardy! fans for his quick mind and trigger-happy button finger. "I'm mesmerized by his talent," says Beverly. (Jennings knew this: Izanagi and Izanami are male and female creator gods from this island nation of Asia. Question: What is Japan?) Beverly, who is also webmaster of TVgameshows.net, says Jennings has managed to amass the celebrity status of, say, Charles Van Doren, who was the most celebrated quiz-show contestant of the 1950s. He was ultimately discovered to have managed his winning streak with illegal help. He inspired the Robert Redford-directed 1994 movie Quiz Show, in which Ralph Fiennes played Van Doren.
Will Jennings inspire a movie? Knowing Hollywood, probably. But Beverly adds that this character will be clean-cut and inspirational.
"His name will not be confined to 15 minutes of fame. People will remember him because he was the boy-next-door type of personality."The one he missed
Answer:
Most of this firm's 70,000 seasonal, white-collar employees work only four months a year.
The correct question:
What is H&R Block? Not FedEx, which was Jennings's reply.
"Nancy Zern, congratulations! You are indeed a giant-killer.
A new Jeopardy champion at $14,401. Ken, take a look at the audience. The audience is paying tribute to not only Nancy but to you as well." -- Alex Trebek
Gayle MacDonald