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Ken Jennings Finally Stumbles

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The streak is over:

Ahead by $4,400 going into “Final Jeopardy,” Final Jeopardy!, Jennings stumbled on this Business and Industry clue: Most of this firm’s 70,000 seasonal white-collar employees work only four months a year. Jennings wrongly answered, “What is FedEx?” real estate agent Nancy Zerg of Ventura, Calif., responded, “What is H&R Block?” making her the new champ — and a likely future Jeopardy! answer. (She finished with $14,401; Jennings fell to $8,799.)

Congratulations on a great run, Ken. For our 12 Questions with Ken, see here and here.

20 comments for “Ken Jennings Finally Stumbles”

  3. It’ll forever be known as the Ken Jennings Show to me.

    I’m debating missing Enrichment Night to stay home and catch this episode. Man.

  5. Ken, we’re going to miss your smiling face on our daily screen! It was dazzling. We are so proud of what you did. And… you were so kind to give us the satisfaction that WE (myself, my wife Carine and daughter Ellen) knew the answers to the couple of “Belgian answers” you missed — What is Antwerp? (our home town), What is Bastogne?… It made us feel very knowledgeable — we knew more than Ken! But for the thousands of other items, I still can’t understand how your mind is able to remember it all, and render it at such a speed. In Dutch: Duizendmaal dank!

  6. Ken, it was a great run! However, I think Ken threw this one. He had to know FedEx wasn’t considered a white collar job, and the expression on his face told it all.

  7. En hora buena, Ken! It was refreshing to have a talented television star be so gracious. You even won over a cynical and caustic ex-Mormon friend of mine. Speaking of you, he said “even though he’s a Mormon, you just can’t help but like the guy.” He especially liked your “aw-shucks attitude.” Good luck on your future endeavors.

  8. He isn’t done yet!

    There still will be the tournament of champions, right? So at some point he’ll brighten our screens once again! What an amazing run.

  10. I agree. The look on his face, the smile, etc… all show that he threw it, though he did so in a way that gave some dignity to his opponent and he will never admit it because he is too classy.

  12. Congratulations Ken. I bet your success had something to do with the desire in your belly sparked by the demise of the College Bowl team at BYU.

  14. Here’s the coverage from some other outlets. A&E is apparently doing a Biography feature on Ken. If they’re looking for an hour’s worth of material about Ken, the church is sure to play prominently. The news stories also say Ken will be one of Barbara Walters’ 10 Most Fascinating People of 2004.

    New York Times
    Washington Post
    Associated Press
    CNN (AP)
    Deseret News
    Salt Lake Tribune

    And not that this took much genius to think of, but as I was driving with my wife last summer, I told her Ken would be a great pitchman for Encarta. (According to the Salt Lake Tribune article, Microsoft’s working a deal with Ken to do just that. )

  16. (According to the Salt Lake Tribune article, Microsoft’s working a deal with Ken to do just that. )

    Say it isn’t so! Our poster boy is turning to the dark side!

  18. Ken’s performance has been astounding. To me the most interesting moment of Ken’s final episode is the gasp from the woman in the instant she realizes she has won.

  20. i am going to miss ken so much, i am still not over the fact that he lost on jeopardy. People are saying that he is coming out with a book, and if he does, i’m going to buy like a million copies of it. I am the bigges fan of ken jennings ever to walk the earth, i am totally obsessed with him!!! and anyone who thinks differently is just stupid.because of him, i am now smarter than i ever was before, because ken inspires me to word hard on my studies and to read a lot. Like ken, when i go to college, i want to study literature and english, so i can be as smart as him someday.

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