With an outrageous number of total wins under his belt, Ken Jennings will be a formidable opponent in ‘Jeopardy! GOAT.’ Learn more about his impressive stats.
Ken Jennings, 45, could already be considered the GOAT of Jeopardy!, although the official holder of that title has yet to be revealed to the public! The game show champion has competed alongside James Holzhauer, 36, and Brad Rutter, 41 — AKA, the holy trinity of Jeopardy! champions — in a special tournament called Jeopardy! The Greatest of All Time, which begins airing on Jan. 7. The showdown was actually taped in Dec. 2019, and now, fans will finally witness who will rightfully claim one million dollars and the coveted title, “The Greatest Of All Time.” Before you watch the trio duke it out over television’s hardest trivia questions, here’s some trivia on Ken himself.
1. Ken holds the Jeopardy! record for most games won in a row. With 74 consecutive wins from 2004, Ken makes a daunting opponent! For comparison, James’ winning streak ended at 32 games (it’d be unfair to pit Brad’s stats against his opponents in this case, since he competed on the show while winning streaks were limited to five games at the time). Ken lost his 75th game to a question about H&R Block, of all topics!
2. When it comes to winning the most money on American game shows, Ken is a runner-up. Ken didn’t limit his success to his first round on Jeopardy! He returned for multiple follow-up tournaments: Jeopardy! Ultimate Tournament of Champions, IBM Challenge, Jeopardy! Battle of the Decades and Jeopardy! All-Star Games. This puts Ken’s Jeopardy! winnings at over $3.3 million, the game show revealed after announcing the GOAT competition. But that number grows even larger thanks to Ken’s appearances on Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader?, Grand Slam, Who Wants to Be a Millionaire and 1 vs. 100. But Ken still falls short from Brad, who still reigns as the highest money earner on American game shows. After all, Brad’s participation on Jeopardy! competitions alone have netted him over $4.7 million.
This! Is! #JeopardyGOAT! Gather the family because Jeopardy! The Greatest of All Time begins tonight at 8|7c on @ABCNetwork! pic.twitter.com/BeCxnmIOVS
— Modern Family (@ModernFam) January 7, 2020
3. The champ launched a successful book career after his breakthrough winnings in 2004. For adults, Ken has released the following titles: Brainiac, Ken Jennings’s Trivia Almanac, Maphead, Because I Said So! and Planet Funny. He also authors The Junior Genius Guides for children.
4. Ken was all over the map while growing up. Although Ken was born in Seattle, Washington in 1974, he spent 15 years in Korea and Singapore because of his father’s overseas career as an attorney. This may come as a surprise, since Jeopardy! is a show all about pop culture! But thanks to the Armed Forces Network, Ken could watch the game show “religiously after school every afternoon,” according to his online bio.
GOOD MORNING AMERICA pic.twitter.com/X2iwa2RAMv
— Ken Jennings (@KenJennings) January 6, 2020
5. Before Jeopardy!, Ken was already immersed in the trivia world. Ken took his passion from watching Jeopardy! on television and became the captain of the quiz bowl team at Brigham Young University, where Ken graduated from with a double major in English and computer science in 2000. During his time as an undergrad, Ken wrote and edited questions for the National Academic Quiz Tournaments, which hosts quiz competitions for colleges and high schools around America, according to Ken’s personal bio. After graduation, Ken worked as a software engineer in Salt Lake City.
Sourse: hollywoodlife.com
