— Ch. 1 · A Software Engineer's First Grade —
Ken Jennings.
~5 min read · Ch. 1 of 7
Kenneth Wayne Jennings III was born on the 23rd of May 1974, in Edmonds, Washington. His father worked as an international lawyer and moved the family to South Korea when Ken entered first grade. The family lived there for eleven years before moving to Singapore. He grew up watching Jeopardy! on the American Forces Network during those overseas years. After returning to the United States, he attended the University of Washington. He later transferred to Brigham Young University in 1996. One of his roommates at BYU was author Brandon Sanderson. Jennings graduated in 2000 with a double major in English and computer science. He then worked as a software engineer for CHG Healthcare Services in Holladay, Utah.
The Longest Winning Streak
Jennings took the contestant exam for Jeopardy! in 2003 but waited a year for a response. He received three weeks to prepare for taping. He used a couch as a podium and his child's toy as a buzzer while practicing. His wife kept score using flash cards. The run began with the episode airing on the 2nd of June 2004. In that first game, he unseated two-time champion Jerry Harvey. The Final Jeopardy! clue asked about the first female track athlete to win medals in five different events at a single Olympics. Jennings answered "Who is Jones?" referring to Marion Jones. Host Alex Trebek accepted the answer since she had not yet been stripped of her medals. The streak continued until the 30th of November 2004. He lost his 75th game to challenger Nancy Zerg after missing both Double Jeopardy! Daily Doubles. Zerg won with $10,000 and wagered $4,401 to take a $1 lead. Jennings responded incorrectly with "What is FedEx?" and finished with $8,799. He earned a total of $2,522,700 from his 74 wins.