Ken Jennings: Meaning (information, definition, explanation, facts)

Ken W. Jennings (born May 23, 1974) holds the records for the longest winning streak and the most money won on the syndicated game show Jeopardy!.

Biography

From Murray, Utah, near Salt Lake City, Jennings is a Mormon, a teetotaler and a graduate in computer science and English of Brigham Young University, where he played on the school's quizbowl team for three years. Jennings was born in Edmonds, Washington and turned 30 years of age in May 2004. He also identifies himself as an avid comic book and movie buff with a web site listing his top 2000 favorite movies. He completed an IB (International Baccalaureate) diploma at Seoul Foreign School and achieved "honors" at both University of Washington and Brigham Young University. He currently writes questions, and edits literature and mythology, for NAQT, a quizbowl organization. He is now a software engineer for CHG, a healthcare-placement firm.

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. He watched Jeopardy! on Armed Forces Television while growing up. Jennings served a two year LDS mission in Madrid, Spain from 1993 to 1995.

Including shows aired through July 23, 2004, Jennings had won US $1,321,660 through 38 episodes. Jeopardy! contestants receive their winnings approximately 120 days after their last game airs.

In addition to his daily winnings, Jennings will certainly return for the "Tournament of Champions", where he will likely be the odds on favorite to win an additional $250,000. The episode aired July 23, 2004 was the 20th-season finale; all of Jennings' episodes from then were taped in February and March. Jennings will return on the first show of the 21st season, which will tape in August, and air on September 6, 2004. Since he will be appearing on the show this upcoming season, he may have to wait until 2005 to compete in the Tournament of Champions. [The ToCs have aired at different times over the year, and have had different cut-off dates; it is certain, though, that he will compete in a future ToC.]

In 2003, at the start of the syndicated show's 20th season, Jeopardy!'s rules were changed to allow a contestant to remain on the show for as long as he or she continued to win. Previously, contestants could not return after winning five-consecutive games. After the rule change, and until Jennings's run, the record winning-streak was set by Tom Walsh, who won $184,900 in seven games in January 2004.

Jennings's winning streak on Jeopardy! has made him something of a celebrity; he has received a good deal of national media coverage and appeared on The Late Show with David Letterman to present Letterman's "Top 10 List". Jeopardy! ratings have gone up 62 percent during Jennings's run on the show (11.1 million viewers was a ten year high); for three weeks in July, it surpassed traditional leader Wheel of Fortune to become television's highest-rated syndicated program.

When asked what he intends to do with his winnings, Jennings said that he intended to tithe ten percent to his church, donate to public television and NPR, go on a trip to Europe, and invest the rest for his family.

Trademarks

Jennings has become known for his quirky behaviors:

• He writes his name in a different style each day, with styles ranging from cursive script to block letters to dots.
• Every time his total winnings are announced at the beginning of the show, he shakes his head in disbelief.
• The good luck charm in his pocket is a plush "Totoro" toy, from the movie My Neighbor Totoro.
• He will often attempt to pronounce foreign words, phrases, or locations with an accent.
• On Final Jeopardy! and the Daily Doubles he almost always wagers an amount that could bring his total to a multiple of $5,000, or at the least a multiple of $1,000.
• He 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). He intentionally tied this record three times. However, on the episode aired July 23, the final episode of the Jeopardy! season and Jennings' 38th win, he entered Final Jeopardy! with a total only $600 shy of the record, and beat it with a final total of $75,000. (He would have broken the record with $60,000 in his 30th win, but missed the Final Jeopardy! question and finished that game with $32,000).

Jennings has already broken or tied the following records:

Jeopardy! host Alex Trebek often mentions the other possible records that Jennings could break. Included in the records Jennings still has ahead of him (not all of which Trebek has mentioned):

Jennings won US $156,000 in his first five days on Jeopardy!, so if the five-day rule had not been eliminated, he would still be the all-time non-tournament winner in Jeopardy! history. The previous record holder, Tom Walsh, won $184,900 in seven days, but only $118,100 of that came in the first five days. No other Jeopardy! contestant has won more than $150,000 in non-tournament play.

If winnings are further adjusted to make them comparable to the seasons before the clue values were doubled, Jennings' adjusted total of $78,000 would place him 11th in the Trebek era of Jeopardy!, behind Frank Spangenberg ($102,597) and nine others.

• Largest Jeopardy! one-day winning total.
  
  • Broken record of highest overall winnings ever won on Jeopardy!, including special tournaments

Daily average: US $34,780.53

The theoretical maximum win for a single day of Jeopardy! is $566,400, but this requires choosing all of the Daily Doubles last and that they're all placed behind the lowest valued clues, which the odds are 3,288,600 to 1 against (assuming they are randomly placed). Depending on placement and order of the Daily Doubles, a so-called "perfect game" (every question correct, always maximum wager when called to do so) can range from $208,000 to $566,400, with a mean of $374,400.