Difference between revisions of "Ken Jennings"

Latest revision as of 09:34, 2 July 2024

Ken Jennings

Noted subjects	Jeopardy!
Past colleges	BYU (1996-2000)
Stats	HDWhite • NAQT

Ken Jennings is a former player for BYU and NAQT member and editor who is best known for his record-setting run on Jeopardy! in the summer of 2004. Jennings won a still-record 74 consecutive games and defeated numerous other quizbowl personalities, including Leo Wolpert and Jeff Hoppes, in the process. He and Mayim Bialik became the hosts of the show in 2021.

Playing career

Jennings was part of of the BYU team from fall 1996 until 1999-2000. In 1998, Adam Fine ranked him as the 81st best quizbowl player he had seen play.

Involvement with quiz bowl

NAQT vs ACF

Shortly after his win streak, Jennings and other NAQT diehards of the mid-'00s attempted to use their success on Jeopardy! to settle a "format war" between ACF and NAQT - the details of this feud are not well-established. This tactic blew up in NAQT's face when Jennings repeatedly lost on Jeopardy to Chip Beall-acolyte Brad Rutter.

Why Does Ken Jennings Play Quiz Bowl?

In 2018, NAQT put out a video featuring Jennings titled "Why Does Ken Jennings Play Quiz Bowl?", in which he describes the advantages that playing quiz bowl has. Like many of his public mentions of quiz bowl, this video features Jennings describing how one can improve at Jeopardy! by participating in the activity.

Slate article

On April 9, 2019, Jennings wrote an article for Slate magazine discussing the relationship between quiz bowl and Jeopardy titled "The Jeopardy! Minor Leagues", in which he stated "quiz bowl—and NAQT in particular—has become a de facto farm system for the brains you see on Jeopardy! every night"[1]. A short forum discussion followed to discuss the choice of the phrase "minor leagues" and more generally the presentation of quiz bowl to the public.[2]

External Links

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 |Image = Kenjennings.jpg
 |Subjects = Jeopardy!
-|schoolcur = None
 |schoolpast = [[BYU]] (1996-2000)
-|highschool =
+|firstname = Ken
-| }}
+|lastname = Jennings
+}}
+'''Ken Jennings''' is a former player for [[BYU]] and [[NAQT]] member and editor who is best known for his record-setting run on [[Jeopardy!]] in the summer of 2004. Jennings won a still-record 74 consecutive games and defeated numerous other quizbowl personalities, including [[Leo Wolpert]] and [[Jeff Hoppes]], in the process. He and Mayim Bialik became the hosts of the show in 2021.
-'''Ken Jennings''' is best known for his record-setting run on [[Jeopardy!]] that captivated the country in the summer of 2004. Jennings won a still-record 74 consecutive games and defeated numerous other quizbowl personalities, including [[Leo Wolpert]] and [[Jeff Hoppes]], in the process. He is currently an editor for [[NAQT]]. He (and the various NAQT diehards of the mid-00s who were also interviewed at the time) took his newfound fame as an opportunity to use the mainstream media as the vehicle to settle feuds with ACF from 1995, by crowing that his victory on a game show had resolved some "format war" with which the contemporary quizbowl circuit was unfamiliar. This tactic blew up in NAQT's face when Jennings repeatedly lost on Jeopardy to [[Chip Beall]] acolyte [[Brad Rutter]].
+==Playing career==
+Jennings was part of of the [[BYU]] team from fall 1996 until 1999-2000. In 1998, [[Adam Fine]] ranked him as the 81st best quizbowl player he had seen play.
-==BYU Quizbowl==
+==Involvement with quiz bowl==
+===NAQT vs ACF===
+Shortly after his win streak, Jennings and other NAQT diehards of the mid-'00s attempted to use their success on Jeopardy! to settle a "format war" between [[ACF]] and NAQT - the details of this feud are not well-established. This tactic blew up in NAQT's face when Jennings repeatedly lost on Jeopardy to [[Chip Beall]]-acolyte [[Brad Rutter]].
-Jennings was part of of the [[BYU]] team from fall 1996 until 1999-2000. In 1998, [[Adam Fine]] ranked him as the 81st best quizbowl player he had seen play.
+===Why Does Ken Jennings Play Quiz Bowl?===
+In 2018, NAQT put out a video featuring Jennings titled [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y5ku181Zm8I "Why Does Ken Jennings Play Quiz Bowl?"], in which he describes the advantages that playing quiz bowl has. Like many of his public mentions of quiz bowl, this video features Jennings describing how one can improve at ''Jeopardy!'' by participating in the activity.
-==Political commentator==
+===Slate article===
-Jennings has used his C-list celebrity status to pen several [http://ken-jennings.com/blog/archives/414 columns] on his personal website and in major media outlets such as the [http://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/politicians-pundits-stop-slandering-mormon-faith-article-1.272933 New York Daily News], demanding that all criticism of Mormon ideology cease. He showed up to a discussion of Mormon abuses on Brian Rostron's blog and did not answer the question of how much of his Jeopardy winnings were tithed into the Church's [http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/15/us/politics/15marriage.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0 anti-gay campaigns]. More recently, Jennings has made it clear that he is a [https://twitter.com/KenJennings/status/457372295980257280 celebrity] and piddly quizbowl contributors such as Fred Morlan [https://twitter.com/KenJennings/status/458026757849751552 are not], and should think twice before attempting to participate on his endless succession of self-promotional social media outlets. This behavior has attracted [http://twitchy.com/2014/04/19/was-jeopardy-champ-ken-jennings-needlessly-cruel-to-a-fan/ derision] from the Internet media, as has Jennings's attempts to engage in political humor while remaining coy about his own politics, which have infuriated [http://twitchy.com/2014/04/01/hey-giant-douche-ken-jennings-is-pretty-good-at-jeopardy-photoshop-mockery/ conservatives] on the one hand, while also increasingly alienating liberals as he dives further into the realm of [http://twitchy.com/2013/04/30/jeopardy-champ-ken-jennings-takes-swipe-at-gop-senators-with-beards/ gay-baiting]. Jennings's previous declarations that [http://ken-jennings.com/messageboards/viewtopic.php?p=41286&sid=f32a9577eccd65830a13c5d1322a2ab3#p41286 believing] in civil rights for sexual minorities is childish, not "classy," and against the right of the Mormon church to dictate who may get married, which is presumably in the special Constitution that Jennings can read with his magic seer stones, wash poorly with his attempts at making light of the issue. Generally, Jennings's long career of defending homophobia in the public sphere makes his gay "jokes" read with much more cringeworthy bite than he probably intends, which as of April 2014 is currently causing a rift among the slightly grown-up John Green fans looking for another "geek idol" to mindlessly worship who up to this point have lapped up everything he says.
+On April 9, 2019, Jennings wrote an article for Slate magazine discussing the relationship between quiz bowl and Jeopardy titled "The Jeopardy! Minor Leagues", in which he stated "quiz bowl—and NAQT in particular—has become a de facto farm system for the brains you see on Jeopardy! every night"[https://slate.com/culture/2019/04/jeopardy-quiz-bowl-connection-ken-jennings.html]. A short forum discussion followed to discuss the choice of the phrase "minor leagues" and more generally the presentation of quiz bowl to the public.[https://hsquizbowl.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=22606]
-==Other media==
+==External Links==
-In 2015, Jennings appeared as himself on an episode of ''Mysteries at the Museum'' discussing the evolution of road maps.  Ironically, this same episode also featured as segment entitled "Attack of the Killer Bees", which one expects he might have had greater in-depth knowledge of, given his background with NAQT.
+*[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ken_Jennings Wikipedia article]
+*[http://ken-jennings.com/ Ken Jennings' website]
-On the April 2, 2017 episode of ''The Simpsons'' entitled "Caper Chase", Jennings voiced himself alongside scientist Neil deGrasse Tyson, screenwriter/philosopher Robert McKee, and financial talking head Suze Orman, collectively referred to as "the greatest educators in the world" ... at least in the episode.
-==Links==
-[http://ken-jennings.com/ Ken Jennings' website]<br>
-[http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2004/scorecard/07/27/quintong.jennings/ "How I beat Ken Jennings", by James Quintong]
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 [[Category: Celebrity quizbowl alums]]
 [[Category:Original QBWiki Page]]
+[[Category: Jeopardy contestants]]