Ken Jennings Finally Loses on “Jeopardy”

It took ages, but someone finally beat Ken Jennings on “Jeopardy.” The quiz-whiz has a record of 74 and 1, which brought him around $2.5 million in winnings. While the rules changed in 2003 to allow champions to stay beyond the 5 show limit previously in place, Mr. Jennings’ achievement in the field of trivia is astonishing. By one count, he answered 2,881 questions, or because of “Jeopardy’s” rather silly format, he offered that many questions to the “Jeopardy” answers. It almost makes the game a respectable intellectual exercise.

Game shows, of course, are the second lowest form of daytime TV, after the dreaded soap opera. And there is a special category of derision for “reality TV.” But as with any genre, there are some that rise above the norm to provide a certain quality worthy of note. “Jeopardy” is that program, the best game show on American TV, and it has been since Art Fleming first provided the “Final Jeopardy” answer back in 1964.

What makes the program interesting is not the reverse format, in which the answer is given and the contestants must respond with the question, but rather that the trivia involved requires a certain degree of education. At the same time, one can surmise an answer is one’s knowledge base is broad enough. Shortly after Mr. Jenning’s defeat, a final round answer was “The HMS Pandora sailed thousands of miles in 1790 to return this man to England.” One of the contestants missed answer but could reason herself in the right direction suggesting the Pandora’s quarry Captain Bligh, when in fact it was Fletcher Christian.

The only program to rival “Jeopardy” was the BBC’s “Mastermind” which ran from 1972 and 1997 and was hosted by Sir Magnus Magnusson, now Chancellor of Glasgow Caledonian University. “Mastermind” relied on a second round category that the contestant named himself, and the detail and expertise were astonishing. However, “Jeopardy” relies completely on categories chosen by the judges.

Mr. Jennings appears to owe $1.04 million in taxes (ironically the question that lead to his defeat had as its answer H&R Block), and he will give 10% to the Mormon Church of which he is a member. So, he’ll have a little over $1.2 million to play with. He said in an interview that it feels like he’s going back to real life after having a summer job. No summer jobs pay quite like that. Perhaps a bonus is in order, though. After all, he boosted ratings 22% over last year.


© Copyright 2004 by The Kensington Review, J. Myhre, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent.


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