Who is Ken Jennings?

Vacation’s almost over and it’s time to get your head back into the game.
Not the office game.
Not the campaign game.
The game that’s turned a quiet brainiac named Ken Jennings into America’s newest television hero: “Jeopardy!”
Today, the mild-mannered software designer from Salt Lake City returns to the classic quiz show to defend his title as the longest-running, highest-earning, best-ratings-getting player ever on the syndicated program.
Without eating maggots, without sifting through a bevy of bachelorettes or warbling a Barry Manilow tune in front of Simon Cowell, the 30-year-old Jennings has won $1.3 million (so far) and become a star.
He’s heralded on Internet blogs: “There are now three constants in life: death, taxes and Ken Jennings,” Jason Kottke (Kottke.org) recently wrote under the heading “The Cult of Ken Jennings.”
He’s been given a catchy celebrity nickname: KenJen.
There are even T-shirts decorated with his image being peddled on eBay.
When “Jeopardy!” faded into its summer reruns in late July, Jennings had sailed through 38 consecutive games, beating 76 opponents with more than 1,300 correct responses in more than 450 categories.
Fans watched in awe as the man with a boyish face and a penchant for comic books and movies sliced and diced his competitors by providing questions to brain-busting “Jeopardy! answers such as: “Izanagi and Izanami are male and female creator gods from this island nation of Asia.” (Question: What is Japan?)
And: “These flowers blooming in a Flanders cemetery during WWI inspired a famous poem by Major John McCrae.” (What are poppies?)
Of course, there have been impressive “Jeopardy! champions before. New York City transit cop Frank Spangenberg won more than $102,597 in 1990. Computer consultant Leszek Pawlowicz won $75,400 in 1992.
But in the past, “Jeopardy!” contestants played for lower sums and were required to leave the show after winning five consecutive games. Some were invited back for the limited-run Tournament of Champions.
However, at the beginning of last season (the program’s 20th), producers changed the rules, allowing players to remain on the program for as long as they kept winning. Tom Walsh of Washington, D.C., set the record with seven consecutive victories.
Then came Jennings.
He started his 38-game streak on June 2, winning $37,201 in a mere half-hour, and he just kept hitting home runs. On July 23, the last show before the break, Jennings amassed $75,000, setting a one-day earnings record. The old record was $52,000, achieved by Brian Weikle in 2003.
The KenJen run also made the show’s ratings rocket. Average viewership rose from 9.6 million in June to a whopping 15 million in July, beating even the perennial game-show ratings champ “Wheel of Fortune,” which had 12.4 million, according to Nielsen Media Research.
“He had an enormous impact on a show that didn’t even need help,” said Marc Berman, a columnist for mediaweek.com. “He was just an unexpected bonus. By the end of the season, ‘Jeopardy!’ was beating out most shows on network television.”
It didn’t hurt that Jennings turned out to be a likable winner, an aw-shucks kind of guy who readily admitted to being a trivia nerd and seemed to enjoy every minute of the competition.
If his response happened to be about a foreign country, KenJen answered with a goofy accent. He embellished his Final Jeopardy answers with little cartoon drawings. And he adopted an amusing habit of betting just enough on the Daily Doubles to make his winnings end in an even number.
“His personality has a lot to do with it,” Berman said. “It’s like you’re rooting for an everyday person who happens to be a genius. It’s brought new viewers to the show, and longtime fans like me back to it.”
Not that anybody knows much about Jennings himself. He doesn’t grant interviews. His family doesn’t grant interviews. And even though he’s made a few appearances on popular talk shows (David Letterman, Jay Leno, “Regis & Kelly”) he’s divulged precious little.
That could be because “Jeopardy!,” which is taped well in advance of when it airs, requires contestants to maintain confidentiality about show details while their games are on the air. If they talk, they lose their winnings.
What is known about KenJen is that he is a devout Mormon who plans to contribute a portion of his winnings to the church. He’s married to a woman named Mindy who helped the nondrinker study the ingredients of cocktails by quizzing him with flash cards. He’s father to a baby boy named Dylan and owner of a Labrador retriever named Banjo.
Jennings holds a degree in computer science from Brigham Young University and calls himself an intellectual “generalist” who knows a little about a lot of things. He also happens to be a veteran player of academic quiz bowls who in his spare time writes questions for the National Academic Quiz Tournaments organization.
Which may give Jennings a slight edge. That, and the champ’s quick-trigger buzzer finger, said Steve Beverly, a professor at Union University in Jackson, Tenn., and an expert in game-show history and trivia.
“He’s mastered that eye-hand coordination,” Beverly said. “It’s tricky, because you have to wait until (host Alex Trebek) completes the answer, but be faster than the other players.”
Beverly said Jennings’ championship season has fueled rampant rumors among game-show fans. Some say he’s going to last until October. Some say he’s going down his first week back.
But nobody in the know is talking.
And, Beverly said, “that’s what makes it so much fun.”