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Adieu to Ken Jennings
IllogicalStudent writes "The Toronto Star is reporting that the episode of Jeopardy where Ken Jennings (a.k.a. 'The Jeopardy Guy') finally loses aired this evening. It came down to a 2-person finish (3rd had -2600 at the end of Double Jeopardy, and was eliminated) between Ken and opponent Nancy Zerg, with the final category being Business & Industry. Ken answered 'Fed Ex' to the question 'Most of this firm's 70,000 seasonal white-collar employees work only four months a year,' when the correct answer was 'H&R Block.' Ken finished his record-streak with just over $2.5 Million."
Does anyone else think he just got burned out and decided to be done?
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Yes we knew it was coming, but didn't know when, or how.
Some kind of spoiler alert would have been nice. Although I'm not sure how to do that. What is the headline? What's the lead paragraph? How do you attract people to the article without letting them know that tonight is the night?
Well, I've got two hours to think about answers to those questions (or is it questions for those answers?) before it airs.
Don't know if he reads Slashdot but it might make for an interesting interview.
Buzzer system rigging is the only real way to do it, and while I doubt it, he was still dang good even if it was rigged. Also, he needn't be aware of it. But I rather suspect it wasn't rigged.
Hero?
Did you actually *watch* that one? He actually *explained* the whole "1337" thing, and *he was serious*.
That guy is the biggest dork I've seen on that show in five years.
And that's saying a LOT.
p
In Korea, long hair is for old people!
I still think the whole Ken Jennings was a way to boost ratings.
Jeopardy is a money maker, and with Ken staying in the game so long, it got people hooked big time.
Ratings went way up with him on the show and that little bit the he supposedly won, was a perfect way for ABC to get those ratings.
So many shows you see these days are fake...I doubt if there is any show on tv today that isn't.
Heck, when the osborne's were on mtv I thought it was real, and then later found out it was not.
I'm sick of seeing all these stupid reality shows on tv....someone make them go away!
The thing here is that Jeopardy had been falling in ratings for basically 10 years. There as no chance of a cult of personality for anyone but the host becaus after episodes the guy/gal was out. Also, the money never got that high. You had a lot of 5 time champs with something like 30-50k in winnings, maybe sometimes as high as 100k.
Thats not big enough money to get people really watching. ABC put on "Millionaire" which could give away way more cash on a given night.
It is not co-incidence that the ratings spike started when winners could keep winning and winning. Someone like Ken 5 years ago would have walked away with a cool $150k. No bad, but also, J! would have missed his fan base being developed and watching everynight.
I'm a little unclear on why "He's the biggest dork to ever appear on Jeopardy" somehow cancels out the assertion "he's a nerd hero".
Sounds like support to me, but maybe that's just me. Since I'm 15.238494698823255... times nerdier than you by the most convenient local standard, I think I'll stick with my opinion.
(Smileys for everyone.)
in some communities that still practice, polygamy changed from just a relegious practice into a cultural one.
Oh, and they certainly aren't just marrying widows and single women. this guy has (amongst other things) two children from two different underage girls.
Anyways, think of it as +1 funny.
Viva la Ken!
[Fuck Beta]
o0t!
Maybe ... but speaking for someone in Mtn time with a TiVo I agree with your post's parent.
... and is ,,, when ... explodes at the end of Spiderman 2" (fill in "..." with what happened at the end) before you go see it. Did you knew Spidey was going to win ahead of time? SURE. Did you want to know how? No.
Look, I knew he was going away this week sometime, so I set up a few manual recordings even though I almost never watch the show. Just because I knew it was going to end didn't mean I wanted to know all the details.
Ever know anyone who recorded a football game but heard in the news that their team lost but planned to watch anyway? Now, what was their reaction if you told them not only that the team lost, but by how much and about the final play?
All it would have taken would have been 2 things:
1) a spoiler warning
2) enough text that the details wouldn't have been posted until the reader clicked on the full story.
It is kind of like someone telling you "Doc Ock
This isn't in the same class as the 2 examples, but common courtesy when posting folks. I was almost all the way through the post before my brain clicked and said "ummm, maybe I don't want to know this yet".
It is more productive to voice thoughtful opinions (reply) than to judge (moderate) others.
Ken Jennings was my roomate freshman year at Brigham Young University.
We had both drank a lot - Ken said on the show he is a teetotaler.
--
I worked for NASA for 8 years straight out of MIT undergrad.
I'm an editor for Tom's Hardware Guide
I worked for a particular company that denied another company a lucrative contract just because that company's CTO had bullied my company's CEO when he was in high school
I have TWO friends who work at Bungie
I work on LAMP software and deploy to customer's websites.
I obtained a preview release [of GIMP 2.0]
I'm sorry, but I've got to call your bluff here. You've claimed to do to much stuff and to know too many people. If all this is true, it's quite impressive and you have a life history to be proud of; if not, you need to stop claiming to be so many different things if you want people to take you seriously.
Besides, unless you're claiming that Ken got more moral after leaving BYU - a Mormon institution - you're attributing behaviors to him that the KenJen of the brief show interviews would not have done.
The easy answer? Slashdot simply shouldn't have posted the article until 8:00pm PST.
I don't think ANY bookie in his right mind would ever take a bet in which the bettor was a principal capable of affecting the outcome. No FSCKING way.
Enough about the poor unfortunate Mr. Floyd, let's talk about the rich and prosperous Mr. Butch.
The truth about Scientology, Xenu, and you: Operation Clambake
OK, lemme explain this a different way.
;)
He was using 1337 in a manner other than poking fun at the skr1p7 k1dd13 concept. As in, he gave the impression that he and his friends actually think '1337sp33k' is "cool."
THAT is why the guy isn't a nerd hero.
p
In Korea, long hair is for old people!
May I suggest an "Ask Slashdot" for Ken? As a programmer I would guess that he is aware of the site and he has done something similar elsewhere. Of course that was an LDS specific forum, so it is probably not as interesting to /.ers.
Lasers Controlled Games!