"This Is Ken!"

{He's back!}

I want to dislike Ken Jennings, English major and Jeopardy! champion, but I can't.

He has this certain something about him. The wit and sarcasm, the quickness with the buzzer, the way he handles the most difficult of questions seemingly without effort, all of it just makes you want to wave an American flag, put ribbons around a tree, and stand on your front porch and chant "U-S-A" as if this were some Olympic event with Cold War implications. At ten wins, he became a person of interest like the guy on Jokers Wild who ruled that summer when I was eleven. (I wonder what happened to him.) At fifteen wins, the media became involved, bloggers took up the cause and referenced David Foster Wallace, office pools were started, and my wife insisted that we TIVO until further notice. At twenty, as he ran out of things to say to Alex, the nation couldn't stop talking about him. We knew everything we could know about the man from his waist size to the fact that he likes Jell-O with his afternoon tea. Salt Lake City made plans to name a street (or a school or a park) after him if he reached 25.

He's a gracious guy, always with a friendly handshake to the two people he's just pummelled, their fifteen minutes of fame now a half-hour of nationally televised and forever in syndication shame. One recent contest, he fell behind early to contestant number three, a young Canadian who seemed to be on his game. But it was just a matter of time. The Canadian didn't know about fish so when he landed on the Daily Double! with a chance to take a commanding lead into Double Jeopardy!, he flinched, cowered at the thought of throwing away his chance at becoming the next Ken Jennings. Worst of all, he showed weakness. Like a shark to blood, Ken devoured the kid, running off entire rows of correct questions, taking the momentum to the Double Jeopardy! round where he nailed both Daily Doubles! and coasted to an easy win.

One thing about Ken: he'll only go so far. Alex dangles the one-day-record carrot in front of his nose, yet despite many chances, he plays it conservatively. Maybe he believes in karma. Or it could be his Mormon upbringing, the fact that by taking that risk, he is possibly committing a sin worse than caffeine consumption--gambling. I'm guessing that he's saving it all up for a great dénouement. He'll look into the camera as the Final Jeopardy! question is revealed and announce, "I'm stepping down, Alex." The crowd will oooh, Alex will make a horrible attempt at saying something funny, but Ken will not be swayed. "This will be my final Final Jeopardy!" And in an unprecedented move, the producers of the show will reveal his wager before his answer. We'll all see that he's bet it all. He could end up with $73,240 dollars for a "one day total."

And then it will be over.

Ken will have his street (or a school or a park) named after him. Alex will grow his moustache back in honor of this great man. We will all realize that there will never be another Ken Jennings.

Comments

[monkeyinabox]

Ken is simply amazing at Jeopardy. Half the battle is working the signaling device and half is knowing the answer. He's been going at it so long now, that his timing is perfect. No one will have a fiar chance against him with the buzzer. His only threat is getting a board full of topics he knows nothing about, but so far it sure seems like he has an impressively vast knowledge of many subjects.

It sure seems like he should break the single day record, but you are so right in how conservative he plays it. But, maybe one day soon, he'll take a gamble, but since no one else seems capable of beating him, why should he give anyone else a chance?

[Gwenda B.]

I think we may be witnessing the ascension of a religious figure. I fully expect a Cult of Ken Jennings to develop. Just say it a few times: Ken Jennings, Ken Jennings, Ken Jennings. Musically creepy. Magically delicious.

[Jeff]

I said it three times in front of a mirror and my dogs started barking. Creepy.

[Sarah Fisher]

Very very cute entry. I, too, would love to hate Ken Jennings, but I can't help but love everything about him. You made me laugh. Thanks.

[Bob Smith]

Although he demonstrates a great a great knowledge of trivia, Ken's success can be partially attributed to favoritism or at least positive bias on the part of the Alex Trebek and the Jeopardy judges. Several times he has given answers that would been have deemed incorrect if given by other contestants.

One example is his pronunciation of Orange Roughy as "Orange Roofy". The arrogant Trebek (it is easy to appear to be all knowing when you have the answers on a card) has not been so tolerant of mispronunciations by past contestants.

Another example has to do with the category “initially” yours. Ken received points for responding with “Who is what is “Bean.” The correct answer should have been “Who is L.L. Bean?

Could it be part of Jeopardy/ABC’s plans to drum up publicity by having a contestant set a new Jeopardy winning record and perhaps reach the $1M mark. Ken is certainly creating a lot of press for ABC and Jeopardy.

[Jeff]

I think Ken is benefiting from a lot of luck, a lot of skill, and at this point, some intimidation. Who the hell can step to the stage knowing that the guy you have to face is beating the snot out of everyone? Bob, I've also thought of some of the conspiracy theories that will inevitably result from KJ's success. I'm sure Snopes.com will give him his own category before long.

[Jay]

Heh, you said "pummeled".

[game Show Expert]

Buzzer reflex timing is irrelevant and a MYTH!!!

You said "Half the battle is working the signaling device"

Wrong wrong...

Jeopadry is heavily and methodically edited including deleting a staggering 5 seconds of response time after EVERY question (if possibly).

5 seconds!

The Jeopardy contestants have an eternity to answer compared to how it looks when aired.

Its a scam and knowing it, the only fair way to play against Ken on Tivo is to pause for 5 seconds after every question to give yourself equal footing with Ken.

I fare well, but not as good as he.

[Robert Cornish]

If the entry by "game show expert" posted 9 July 2004 is correct, Jeopardy will soon be involved in the biggest scandal since "Twenty-one" and Charles Van Doren. Surely the producers of Jeopardy could not be so stupid. But, of course, I said that about the producers of Twentyone. Would someone who has been in the audience please comment?

[Spud Spudly]

I can think of one reason to dislike this Mormon genius: that stupid grin he gives the camera at the beginning of every show when they introduce him. I would love to just one time smack that smirk right off his face.

Other than that the man is perfect though.

[Flo]

I attended a taping of "Jeopardy" several years ago in Washington, DC. The show is taped in "real time," i.e., there is no "delay" edited in. What we saw in the taping is what was shown when it aired on TV.

[Fox]

The big burning question: If Ken Jennings meets a "Final Jeopardy" that will be his undoing, will he bow out with "Who are three men who have never been in my kitchen?"

[John Greer]

I think that Ken Jennings is one of those people
you meet once or twice in a lifetime, so darn smart that it scares you. There is a person in Virginia named Ken Bour who is very similar to this guy in the brain dept. But I think this is certainly on the level, because the reprucussions would be terrible for game show TV.

[jeopardy fan]

I find Ken irritating. His mannerisms and fake accents when giving his response are intolerable. Half of his luck in this run has been the fact that he has been matched with a slew of truly poor competitors. How did the woman on July 9 even get ONTO the show? She didn't even understand about buzzing in before she gave the answer!! SONY is setting the game up so that Jennings can win big, gaining publicity for the show. The show is also trending heavily toward juvenilaia topics (Comic books, TV shows) that are Ken's forte. Too bad that the show has slipped so much this year.

[Reoplex]

That one time when the woman answered was because she picked the categorie, so she got confused and thought she was the only one that could answer :)

Whatever you throw at Ken he will answer. I wonder who beat him. Since he is now back in Salt Lake City.

[July]

I saw KenJen in action at a taping in February. He is the real deal. It is not fixed. The show is taped in real time, taking time outs for commercials. Ken is all over the buzzer all right, but the fact that he knows most of the answers, helps. My son, who is the smartest person I know, was soundly beaten by him. He was leading at the first commercial, but Ken got lucky and got the daily doubles.

Also, the fact that he's in SLC and on Letterman doesn't mean that he's out. They tape 5 shows a day, 2 days in a row, twice a month (I think.) Ken calls Jeopardy his other job.

[George the Greek]

You have to assume that Jennings must have an eidetic memory. A friend and I speculated as to whether he has augmentation from a cybernetic implant. He's a machine.

[Sweet Jennings]

I think Ken is awesome! I want to marry him!

[stephen great]

i think ken know's the answers before the game. He is a software engineer. Maybe he developed a program to hack into jeopardy's network and find the answer's.

[Jeff]

I truly believe Jennings is getting some help, but do agree that he is very smart. The few shows i've seen, why is he able to buzz in faster than the others? And when did the format change to allow winners of more than 5 days? It just seems like the Jennings 30+ day winning streak and over $1 million in prizes is a scam to bring Jeopardy ratings it hasn't seen in many years!

[Nwamaka]

Ken is awesome period. He is not only fast at the buzzer; but he knows the answer too, you people who don't like him are just jealous, because you're not as smart as he is. I'd like to see you guys try to do what he does.

[Jeff]

JEOPARDY IS A SCAM! AND THE SHOW STILL SUCKS!

[Me,Myself and I]

I don't know whether he's getting inside help or is just that freakishly smart but one thing is for sure; I'm in awe watching how much he knows. How can anyone be that smart? Even if he is cheating, I'm gonna keep watching because one day he will leave and "I want to be there to see it"--Dana Stevens

[Joe Schmoe]

He's unreal. I can't see how he does it. Is God helping him out so that the Mormon church will get a nice hefty tithing check? Perhaps there's something to that Mormon religion after all..... ;)

[Chris Rasley]

If you watch carefully you'll notice a big difference between Ken and the other players, particularly once he gets a bit of a lead: everyone else waits until they think they know the answer to push the button, whereas Ken pushes the button as soon as he decides he likes the question. Five seconds is an eternity to this guy, and it's obvious he often reasons his way to the correct response only after Alex calls his name. He can afford to get a few wrong when the other two players can't, and that gives him a huge advantage.