Ken Jennings Gets a New Challenge

insomniakxz writes "Producers of Jeopardy announced Tuesday a "Super Tournament," which will pit Jennings in a final match against two survivors of a competition between nearly 150 past five-time winners with a prize of $2 million. Host Alex Trebek called the tournament the "quest for Ken.""

Comments

Ken is smart

[seanadams.com]

He not only knows just about everything, but he's also remarkably good at putting together the pieces and figuring out a tough question that he didn't already know.

I remember one question "After several decades off it, works by this man seen here have returned to The New York Times bestsellers list in 2003"

He didn't recognize the picture at all, but figured it might be Tolkein given the LOTR craze (nobody else got it). That's damn quick thinking, and he answers a lot of questions that way, i.e. without knowing the answer beforehand - he works through trivia questions the way you'd work a math problem. Most jeopardy players rely solely on their memory banks, and that's how he beats them.

Re:Ken is smart

[Rightcoast]

I was on Jeopardy when they came through Miami about 8 years ago or so. I lost bad. This sounds so stupid but, I am considered by everyone I know to be the "smartest" person they know. Even with trivia and general knowledge, as much as computers. It is hard to think that quickly, under so much stress. Not to mention the other two people are the smartest person thier friends know. What Ken Jennings did was amazing.
What are the odds they put on the best there is and ever will be, right after the end of the 5 day format? (any stat hounds wanna take a stab?)
I truly doubt that the others stand a chance against him. I know I wouldn't, and I made the show.

I should have studied foods that start with the letter Q.

Calls not returned

[TheAdventurer]

Ken Jennings was not available for comment, as he was busy sorting his money by the years in which the individual bills were printed. He then went about adding another 1000 movies to his list of favorite movies.

Ken -- The Cyborg!

[Albinofrenchy]

I'm fairly convinced the man is a cyborg with a constant uplink to google. One good way to test is to ask about french military victories, which would make Ken say "What is 'French military defeats.'" If you don't get that joke... It's not a hit on the french, just look it up.

Re:Who else?

[Coward, Anonymous]

does anyone think another contestant has a chance?

I do. If Ken had been on the show in an earlier year he would have left after his 5 day run and few people would know who he is. The question is how many people like him did come in earlier years, had their 5 day run, and left without much press or fanfare? My guess is at least one. Maybe he is the best player the show has ever had, but that would be pretty coincidental for the best player ever to come on shortly after they did away with the 5-day elimination rule.

Even if he is the best ever, he has gotten a number of Final Jeopardy questions wrong. Typically when that happened he had double the money of second place contestant so it didn't matter. It seems unlikely he'll be in that position in the tournament, so as to the question of whether anyone else has a chance then the answer is yes, even if Ken is the best ever, for the simple reason that he might miss the Final Jeopardy question.

Re:This should be SUBSTANTIALLY more interesting..

[abh]

Ah, nothing quite like mocking the question and then spelling the correct answer... incorrectly.

Re:he does have a disadvantage

[UnCivil Liberty]

Or does he ever miss? I've only heard about this guy through a friend.
Video clip of one of Ken's funnier misses.

Anybody get the pun?

[proggoddess]

"The quest for Ken" is a bit of a word-play. According to the online Merriam Webster dictionary, ken is "the range of perception, understanding, or knowledge."

Ha ha ha! Alex Trebek kills me!