The Jennings Juggernaut Rumorama

[tmq800]

EXTRA (The TV Show) just reported what we have been knowing since last night.  Ken Jennings walks away with the richest cash winning total in J! history.

[adamjk]

He already has. Even if he lost tomorrow

[itiparanoid13]

Here is a question, and sorry if its been discussed.  What I read is that he walked away from the show.  Are they meaning that he lost, or that he just literally walked away?

[adamjk]

They mean he lost. I don't think they would allow him to just walk away.

[clemon79]

[quote name=\'itiparanoid13\' date=\'Sep 9 2004, 07:14 PM\'] Are they meaning that he lost, or that he just literally walked away? [/quote]
 I can't believe you people are still beating this dead horse.

Assuming this is true, and the streak ends when it is claimed, and the money amount is what has been reported, I can give you two very good reasons why the concept of him walking away is just idiotic:

If he WERE to leave, he would do so because he had no more worlds to conquer, I should think. So in addition to all of the other milestones he's passed, assuming the above, he passes two more:

1) He breaks Thom McKee's game streak (which is supposed to happen, what, next week?), and

2) He passes Kevin Olmstead...and still keeps playing somewhere between 5 and 10 more games, at least.

Olmstead is the only GS record that exists beyond McKee. If he's gonna walk when he's done them all, he'd do it upon passing Olmstead. But he apparently doesn't.

He's gonna play until he drops. Everyone drops eventually.

[Don Howard]

Those records listed are the domestic records. There still rages the record set overseas of 75 victories by an individual player on 100%.

[Steve McClellan]

...plus Thom's 89 games of TTD *played*

[Craig Karlberg]

Well, after all this, I'll just say without any offense to anyone that Ken Jennings will no doubt be the greatest AMERICAN contestant in game show history bar none.

[Robair]

[quote name=\'CaseyAbell\' date=\'Sep 9 2004, 05:29 PM\'] Sounds like the Prof knows the story is true, or at least he hasn't been able to prove it false. [/quote]
 Oh, he knows. He and Harry Friedman? Like that. Closer than brothers.

And Prof probably has his interview with Jennings all done by now and has to sit on this titanic 12-parter until November.

[Don Howard]

[quote name=\'Robair\' date=\'Sep 10 2004, 06:09 AM\'] [quote name=\'CaseyAbell\' date=\'Sep 9 2004, 05:29 PM\'] Sounds like the Prof knows the story is true, or at least he hasn't been able to prove it false. [/quote]
Oh, he knows. He and Harry Friedman? Like that. Closer than brothers.

And Prof probably has his interview with Jennings all done by now and has to sit on this titanic 12-parter until November. [/quote]
"How would you explain your amazing run?"
"What was Alex like off camera?"
"Did you get along with the other contestants?"
"Did Johnny let you touch his warm-up jacket?"
"What went through your mind when you won your first million?"
"Wouldn't you agree that the docudateries, gameumentaries, docutrasheries and other television programs of that ilk are poisoning the minds of our children and adults today and will eventually lead to the birth of The Fourth Reich?"

[CaseyAbell]

A Washington Post story today adds some fuel to the KJ fire. Interesting comments from the blogger who broke the story. His sources don't sound rock solid to me, but I'm a suspicious kind of guy.

All the conspiracy theories only add to the fun, of course. I expect some media outlet(s) will start tailing Ken to see if he goes to any more Jeopardy tapings.

By the way, my guess on the alleged Final Jeopardy answer was Kelly Services. I figured temps might only work four months a year on average. Luckily, I wagered $0.

[aaron sica]

[quote name=\'Don Howard\' date=\'Sep 10 2004, 08:31 AM\'] "Wouldn't you agree that the docudateries, gameumentaries, docutrasheries and other television programs of that ilk are poisoning the minds of our children and adults today and will eventually lead to the birth of The Fourth Reich?" [/quote]
 I laughed out loud at this one, Don.

Don't ever leave us.

[J.R.]

By my calculations, the alleged 75th episode for Ken will occur on Tuesday, November 2nd ! Which means, this could be the headline in the papers: "Bush and Kerry both lose in 0-0 tie. America would rather watch Ken Jennings. Ralph Nader elected president with 3 votes"

Also, last night. Conan made a joke about the 75th game rumor. He also said Jennings lost on the category "Womens Breasts" : )

-Joe R.

[Matt Ottinger]

[quote name=\'CaseyAbell\' date=\'Sep 10 2004, 08:41 AM\'] A Washington Post story today adds some fuel to the KJ fire. Interesting comments from the blogger who broke the story. His sources don't sound rock solid to me, but I'm a suspicious kind of guy. [/quote]
 Running a blog and having a big ego naturally go hand-in-hand, but somebody needs to tell little internet boy that no reputable news organization is going to use his on-line diary and a "super tipster" he's never met as the one-and-only source for a story.  I learned about it from a different source hours earlier, and it's entirely possible that TV Week did too, or at least got it corroborated before publishing.

[OntarioQuizzer]

JRaygor,

By my calculations, Jeopardy has a TOC, a Kids Week, and a College Championship coming up. That means his 75th episode is scheduled to air on November 30th.