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.""

Ken Jennings is a...

[sharkb8]

Ken is a Jeopardy producer's wet dream. I imagine weeks before he lost, Trebek, et al. were trying to figure out how to wring more rating from the lowly Mormon kid.

They might as well just write him the check and have him dress up in a monkey outfit and dance around on stage for a couple of hours.

Maybe they could rip off Ben Stein and create a pilot for "Win Ken Jenning's Money". Oh, and make it for more than $3K a show.

This should be SUBSTANTIALLY more interesting...

[ikewillis]

...than "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?" Finally, we'll see people winning millions by answering... "answers" like "These particles are either baryonic or fermionic" rather than bullshit questions like "What is the capital of California? A) Los Angeles B) San Diego C) Sacremento D) Dollywood"

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.

Re:Ken is smart

[techno-vampire]

Knowing the answer and pressing the buzzer isn't always enough. A friend of mine was on recently and lost a question because she asked, "What is a glass harmonium," instead of, "What is a glass harmonica?" She told me later that she knew the answer at the time, but the wrong word just came out.

Re:Ken Jennings is a...

[Cylix]

Hell I just liked watching Ben Stein.

Is he really that bright?

You do have to ask yourself that question...

I want to see Ken and Ben battle it out...

Maybe they get to play with their own money and it's a winner take all? I would actually watch that show. As it stands now, when I watch Jeopardy I just think to myself, "Jesus /I'm/ getting old... look at his grey hair."

Re:Ken is smart

[macdaddy]

At some point if I were in Ken's position I'd like to think that I would start playing for charities. Ie, today I'm playing for the Doctor's Without Borders foundation. Or I'm playing for the ACLU or such and such cancer research fund. Then again I could also take the money I would be giving to charity and invest it. Then I could give them (and probably many others) even more money in a few years or every couple of years based soley on the growth. I started investing in the stock market in July and I've literally doubled up so far this year to date. It's probably beginner's luck but I have a lot of it apparently. I'd like to think that I could at least make some decent profit on my winnings. Hell the market average is 11%. 11% of 2 million is $220k. That's certainly nothing to scoff at. Anyhow, that's what I'd like to think I'd do if I were ever in that position.

Re:Ken is smart

[adavidw]

I saw that one.

I thought that was a weird question because harmonium's such a less common word. If you were guessing at that clue, you'd say
"harmonica", because that's a word that would spill out of your brain faster. If you actually used the word "harmonium", that would seem to indicate to me actual knowledge of a correct question, since that word would be harder to come up with otherwise. Your friend using "harmonium" and being wrong just didn't sit well with me. It didn't make sense. I'm glad to hear that it's because of a brain failure, because that makes more sense to me.

(I actually knew the correct answer before anyone buzzed in, but the linguistic aspect of the word selection is what intrigues me about this incident)