Ken Jennings

Kenneth Wayne Jennings III (born May 23, 1974) is an American game show host, author, and former game show contestant. He is the highest-earning American game show contestant, having won money on five different game shows, including $4,522,700 on the U.S. game show ''Jeopardy!''. From 2021 to 2023, Jennings and Mayim Bialik alternated as hosts of that show, as well as ''Celebrity Jeopardy!'' In 2023, Jennings received a nomination for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Host for a Game Show. In December 2023, Jennings was announced as ''Jeopardy!''’s permanent main host.

Jennings holds the record for the longest winning streak on ''Jeopardy!'' with 74 consecutive wins. He also holds the record for the highest average correct responses per game in ''Jeopardy!'' history (for those contestants with at least 300 correct responses) with 35.9 during his original run (no other contestant has exceeded 30) and 33.1 overall, including tournaments and special events. In 2004, Jennings won 74 consecutive ''Jeopardy!'' games before he was defeated by challenger Nancy Zerg in his 75th appearance. Jennings' total earnings on ''Jeopardy!'' are $4,522,700, consisting of: $2,520,700 over his 74 wins; a $2,000 second-place prize in his 75th appearance; a $500,000 second-place prize in the ''Jeopardy!'' Ultimate Tournament of Champions (2005); a $300,000 second-place prize in ''Jeopardy!''s IBM Challenge (2011), when he lost to the Watson computer but became the first person to beat third-place finisher Brad Rutter; a $100,000 second-place prize in the ''Jeopardy!'' Battle of the Decades (2014); a $100,000 second-place prize (his share of his team's $300,000 prize) in the ''Jeopardy!'' All-Star Games (2019); and a $1,000,000 first-place prize in ''Jeopardy! The Greatest of All Time'' (2020).

During his first run of ''Jeopardy!'' appearances, Jennings earned the record for the highest American game show winnings. His total was surpassed by Rutter, who defeated Jennings in the finals of the ''Jeopardy!'' Ultimate Tournament of Champions, adding $2 million to Rutter's existing ''Jeopardy!'' winnings. Jennings regained the record after appearances on several other game shows, culminating with his results on an October 2008 appearance on ''Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?'', though Rutter retained the record for highest ''Jeopardy!'' winnings and once again passed Jennings' total after his victory in the ''Jeopardy!'' ''Battle of the Decades'' tournament. In 2020, he once again faced off with and won against Rutter, as well as James Holzhauer, in a special primetime series, ''Jeopardy! The Greatest of All Time''.

After his success on ''Jeopardy!'', Jennings wrote about his experience and explored American trivia history and culture in his book ''Brainiac: Adventures in the Curious, Competitive, Compulsive World of Trivia Buffs'', published in 2006. Provided by Wikipedia