Ken Jennings Biography

Ken Jennings (Kenneth Wayne Jennings III) is an American game show contestant and author. He holds the record for the longest winning streak on the U.S. game show Jeopardy! with 74; no other contestant has exceeded 20.

Ken Jennings Age | How Old Is Ken Jennings?

He was born on May 23, 1974 in Edmonds, Washington, United States. He is 48 years old as of 2022.

Ken Jennings Height

Jennings stands at a height of around 5 feet 10 inches tall.

Ken Jennings Family

Jennings was born in Edmonds, Washington, and grew up in Seoul, South Korea from 1981 to 1992 and Singapore from 1992 to 1996, where his father worked for an international law firm and then as Asia Pacific Division Counsel of Oracle Corporation.

Jennings watched Jeopardy! on American Forces Network television while growing up.

Ken Jennings Wife

Jennings is married to his beautiful wife Mindy Jennings who is a former preschool teacher. The couple has been togethere since 2000 and they have two children, Dylan, born on November 22, 2002 and a daughter, Caitlin, born November 13, 2006.

Ken Jennings Net Worth

Ken Jennings has an estimated net worth of $4 million.

Ken Jennings Salary

Jennings earns an estimated salary of about $10000 to $50000 annually.

Ken Jennings Education

He attended Seoul Foreign School where he completed an International Baccalaureate diploma. He then graduated with a degree in Computer Science and English at Brigham Young University, where he played on the school’s quizbowl team for three and a half years. He attended the University of Washington during his freshman year.

Ken Jennings Career/ Streak

Jennings also held the record for the highest average correct responses per game in Jeopardy! history (for those contestants with at least 300 correct responses) with 35.9 during his original run and 33.1 overall now as of 2019. That record is currently in danger of being broken by James Holzhauer — no other contestant had exceeded 30.

Ken Jennings is also the second highest-earning contestant in American game show history. In 2004, he won 74 consecutive Jeopardy! games before he was defeated by challenger Nancy Zerg on his 75th appearance.

Jennings’ total earnings on Jeopardy! are $3,196,300, consisting of $2,520,700 over his 74 wins, a $2,000 second-place prize in his 75th appearance, a $500,000 second-place prize in the Jeopardy! Ultimate Tournament of Champions, a $100,000 win for second-place prize in the Jeopardy! Battle of the Decades, as well as half of a $300,000 prize in the IBM Challenge, when he competed against Watson. He defeated Brad Rutter in that IBM Challenge, finishing second to the computer while Rutter finished third.

During his first run of Jeopardy! appearances, he earned the record for the highest American game show winnings. Jennings’ total was surpassed by Rutter, who defeated Jennings in the finals of the Jeopardy! Ultimate Tournament of Champions (first aired on May 25, 2005), adding $2,000,000 to Rutter’s existing Jeopardy! winnings.

He regained the record after appearing on several other game shows, culminating in an appearance on Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? (first aired on October 10, 2008), though Rutter retained the record for highest Jeopardy! winnings and once again passed Jennings’ total after his victory in the 2014 Jeopardy Battle of the Decades tournament.

After Jennings’ success on Jeopardy!, he wrote about his experience and explored American trivia history and culture in his book Brainiac: Adventures in the Curious, Competitive, Compulsive World of Trivia Buffs, published in 2006.

How Much Did Ken Jennings Win On Jeopardy

Jennings’ total earnings on Jeopardy! are $3,196,300, consisting of $2,520,700 over his 74 wins, a $2,000 second-place prize in his 75th appearance, a $500,000 second-place prize in the Jeopardy! Ultimate Tournament of Champions, a $100,000 win for second-place prize in the Jeopardy! Battle of the Decades, as well as half of a $300,000 prize in the IBM Challenge, when he competed against Watson.

Ken Jennings Trivia | Ken Jennings Trivia Book

After his success on Jeopardy!, Ken Jennings wrote about his experience and explored American trivia history and culture in his book Brainiac: Adventures in the Curious, Competitive, Compulsive World of Trivia Buffs, published in 2006.

His Trivia Almanac: 8,888 Questions in 365 Days, a hardcover book, is a compilation of trivia questions—with 3 categories and about 20 questions per day of the year.

Ken Jennings Book

• Colossal Book of Wordplay – 2010
• Maphead: Charting the Wide, Weird World of Geography Wonks – 2011
• Because I Said So! The Truth Behind the Myths, Tales, and Warnings Every Generation Passes Down to Its Kids – 2012
• Junior Genius Guides Carton Pack with Easel & Bookmark – 2014
• Outer Space – 2014
• U.S. Presidents – 2014
• Maps and Geography – 2014
• Greek Mythology – 2014
• Ken Jennings’ Junior Genius Guides Collection: Maps and Geography; Greek Mythology; U.S. Presidents – 2015
• Ancient Egypt – 2015
• The Human Body – 2015
• Dinosaurs – 2016
• Planet Funny: How Comedy Took Over Our Culture – 2018
• House on Fire: A Story of Life, Death,and Servant Leadership – 2019
• Planet Funny: How Comedy Ruined Everything – 2019
• The Greater Goal: Connecting Purpose and Performance – 2019

Ken Jennings House

Jennings has a mansion in Seattle worth $2.9M. The house is a 4,500 square foot, four bedroomed home, with two kitchens, a spar, a large patio among other amazing features.