I think I saw that guy last week -- he had 18,800, and 2nd place had 4,200, and 3rd place had 1,800, if I recall. A Cliff Clavin moment. He played it safe, and bid 6,200, got the question right (Fictional Characters: Charles Dickens was originally going to name this character "Little Fred") and ended up with $25,000.

He's a monster. Very collected.

We need some "closers" to knock him off.

I don't know if this is good or bad for the show, honestly...

What's his personality like?

You're joking, right? Personality?

He's a geeky, unassuming white guy, a software engineer -- about what you'd expect, I suppose. (Same demographic as many FOFCers, I guess)

The blind guy was pretty interesting... as was that guy who won 5 times in a row (under the old rules), and on his last day graciously let the 2nd place finisher tie for the victory so he got the money. He was a great guy, and wasn't the "geeky white software engineer". Remember who I'm talking about (approximately 6 or 7 years ago)?

Eddie Timanus was the blind champion. And I do remember the 5th day tie, that was indeed classy.

This is reminding me of the guy on Tic Tac Dough (Thom McKee - thanks google) who won 38 times, amassing over $300k in 1980.

I was going to post about this a couple of days ago, but forgot. Did he win tonight - I had to work late and missed it? What's the record since they went to this format, anyway? I think the unlimited winning is great, for the record.

The guy won in another romp, and now easily holds the record -- 11 wins, and some $370,000.

The woman in third place wrote, for her Final Jeopardy answer, "Whatever Ken said" - which earned a good laugh.

I'm glad you posted that. I remember that from when I was a kid. We watched that every day to see if he would keep winning. I've tried to convince my family that a guy won forever on that show, but nobody else seemed to remember it. They had almost convinced me that I was making it up. Thanks for the proof. Wasn't he in the Air Force or something like that? I could be wrong on that one, but I do remember that guy winning a ton of money. $300,000 dollars on a game show in 1980 is pretty impressive.

I'm sure your family will be bowled over by your "proof" here:

"Yeah, this guy 'cuervo' said so on the internet."

Lock.

There's a regular over at the OOTP boards that will be on the show 6/22 that has given some information about Mr. Ken Jennings. If that board was up, I would link to the thread.

Guess I don't need to bother watching any more, then.

Skeptic.

(http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&l...22&btnG=Search)

I didn't mean to suggest that it didn't happen. I just thought it was amusing that "some guys said so" instantly became "proof." Nothing against that guy, of course.

You mean you don't believe everything that you hear second-hand on the internet (from someone else who believed something he read on the internet)? I'm shocked!

(I've considered using "because Fritz said so" at home...)

The way he's playing right now, it practically isn't fair. They need to handicap him like 10 grand in the hole to start so the other players will have a chance. He's averaging $30,000+ per game right now and (in the episodes I've seen) puts the game away late in the first round or early second and thus is never in a position to be caught during Final Jeopardy. My wife wonders if the limitless wins truly are limitless or whether there is a cap that he bumps against at some point, such as the end of a season of taping, when they do a ToC.

One of the shows - Monday's maybe? - he won $50K. I say good for him.

EDIT - took out some comments that someone who hasn't already read the last few posts shouldn't worry about. :)

Yeah, I apologize for that. I didn't think about it.

Editing it out now.

Fixed mine as well...

The fact that somebody that is completely independent of me remembered the same details that I did and actually had a name to go with it might not be considered proof, but I would think that would be a strange coincidence. Plus, my family is pretty easy to convince, they're not the brightest. :D

I Garfunkled your mother :D

This herb can be used on chicken

I was flipping through channels when I went past Jeopardy and remembered this thread. It was the first time watching the guy and man, he really is incredible. I'll watch tomorrow if I remember.

Still going. Won his 15th straight last night.

Yeah, I meant to post about that here. The since-purged info above about his winning streak ending was apparently wrong. He's up to 15 days and $486K. I guess my interest is piqued enough that I might go searching for the thread over at OOTP. I saw it last night - I guess that was him?

I meant to bump this, too.

I guess what happened was the OOTP person was a contestant on one of the shows last week - and was there for the five episodes taped together that day. That way, he would have seen up through Ken's 13th win. Saying (paraphrasing here) "he goes on to be a 13-time champion" might have been a slightly confusing way of saying "I can verify that he wins at least 13 times, since I saw him win his 13th."

In any event, he rolls on. I'm TiVo-ing tonight's episode, and have to confess that my interest has been piqued by this roll. He's a very deserving champ, but now I'm rooting against him.

He was on last night, actually. That's why I was confused. I think the answer to the confusion, as I read through the long thread over there quickly, is that the guy was called in as an alternate last week, saw him win #13, but didn't get on, then made it on for last night's show, which was the guy's 15th win.

I never said he lost at 13. I said he made it to 13. I'm sure the words could be read either way though, but I edited them out.

As I stared at the screen that showed his winnings at $486K, the first thought in my head was, "Think about how much more work this guy has had to do for $500K than a contestant on Who Wants to be a Millionaire?" Thirteen episodes vs. what, 20 minutes, basically?

Yeah, but think about odds, too. He's been buzzsawing people in Jeopardy becuase there just haven't been many in his league. But in WWTBAM, one freakish pop culture question and he's home with $32K or only $1K (like who the @#$# knows what the first tv dinner was).

SI

True. He can afford to miss a few and still win. Still, for that much work, he should be a millionaire by now.

Its like a week of real time. I'd do it for as little as $200,000

It's still mentally challenging, and it's 15 separate contests with new competitors. I'd take my chances on Millionaire any day of the week.

I'd be content to play trivia games for an entire year for $50K ;)

SI

This is turning into a real life version of David Foster Wallace's story "Little Expressionless Animals."

I feel sorry for those two women on there tonight.... He got off to a fast start.

EDIT - SPOILER!!! For those on the West Coast or who haven't seen it.



That was embarrassing. Sally Jane Goodall looked like she would be overmatched by an ape, though. That ending shot of her with her hands on her hips, short skirt, and knee-high boots didn't do much for my initial impression, either.

SPOILER!!!

He's pretty good all right, but not invincible for sure. The Final Jeopardy question wasn't *that* hard, yet he was thinking of a duo who did something rather than dying on the same day. I never know when it's okay to post this kind of thing, because it hasn't played on the West Coast yet, and it comes on in OKC at 4:00 Central.

Yeah, that was a question I knew the answer to, but didn't realize it until it just came to me about halfway through the answer period.

I knew that right away because it's one of the greatest coincidences in American History.

Monroe also died on July 4.

more SPOILER...



He was in a little bit of trouble... he didn't cinch the runaway until the second-to-last question (the Double Jeopardy), and ended up missing the final question while the second place person got it. Had the last couple of questions gone differently, he could have lost tonight...

*sigh*

As far as Jeopardy! contestants go, Sally Jane and the "glamour shots" look might have been the sluttiest I've ever seen.

I was waiting for her to start twirling her hair, talk on the phone, and chew gum with her mouth open to complete the picture.

I wonder how much of an advantage he has using the buzzer. It seems to me most contestants know the answers most of the time, but it's all about who buzzes in first. Since he's been doing it everyday for a couple weeks now, I'd think that would give him an even bigger advantage in buzzing in first. Of course, something that could derail him is someone hitting one or two of the double jeopardy questions and getting them right and catching up with him. Most of the shows I've seen, he's the one who gets the double jeopardy questions. If someone else gets lucky and hits them, they could take him down.

At this point, someone could beat him in the final jeopardy round if they could just get more than halfway to his score, since he's probably so rusty in having to figure out the proper amount to bet, he might screw up. I can't recall the last time I saw him go into final jeopardy where he didn't have it already won (save a Cliff Clavin-type meltdown).

From a CNN article about Ken Jennings:

Ken Jennings was seen on his 16th straight "Jeopardy!" episode Wednesday, winning once again to bring his total winnings to $512,959.

The 30-year-old software engineer broke the "Jeopardy!" record early in his run. Tom Walsh, of Washington, D.C., held the previous mark, earning $184,900 in seven days on the show in January.

Then along came Jennings, who is no stranger to the world of quick quiz. He was a member of Brigham Young University's successful College Bowl team in the 1990s. Jennings also edits literature and mythology questions for the National Academic Quiz Tournament.

My daughter had gymnastics last night and I missed the show. What happened?

just preventing a gymnastic like quad-dola.

Thanks. Sometimes I need to be saved from myself.

I saw some Russian dude try a quad dola back in the 2000 Games...damned near killed himself.