Seattle’s Ken Jennings talks Jeopardy win, may hang up his trivia jersey
Jan 25, 2020, 8:03 AM | Updated: 11:10 pm
Ken Jennings. (Photo by Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images)
(Photo by Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images)
Ken Jennings has been rather busy since earning the title of “greatest of all time.” The victory added another $1 million to Jennings’ winnings to make his total upwards of $4 million. He joined Seattle’s Morning New with Dave Ross to discuss what life is like when you’re the greatest.
“It was a crazy week. But of course I’m the greatest of all time. Not just for a week, so my duties will continue until the death of the universe. And I’m ready for that,” he joked.
Despite the eternal title, he may be hanging up his quiz show uniform forever.
“I don’t think they’ve retired my jersey or anything, but I feel like I can’t do better than this. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to top a great Jeopardy tournament like this. I really caught all the breaks I needed to win, and I’m not gonna tempt fate again.”
Seattle’s Ken Jennings takes the Jeopardy title of ‘greatest of all time’
“What’s more is I’m getting a little older. I feel like I’m a little past my prime. I don’t know how long I can keep playing at the Jeopardy level I’d like to see. And I think Alex is not gonna be hosting the show for too much longer — I mean, hopefully for years to come — but I just don’t see going on a post-Alex Jeopardy. It would feel like I was cheating on him.”
During the tournament, Jennings defeated seasoned champions James Holzhauer and Brad Rutter. Previously, Jennings had won the most regular-season games in a row (74), Holzhauer the most money in a single game ($131,127), and Rutter the most money ($4,688,436), reports the New York Post. Jennings is a 45-year-old software engineer turned writer, and a Seattle resident.
The other question that inevitably comes up is if he’s not a contestant on a post-Alex Jeopardy, would Jennings be willing to host the program if that opened?
“That’s very flattering to even be mentioned in the same sentence as Alex. I’ve been a huge fan of Jeopardy my whole life, and it’s a great honor to be associated so closely with my favorite game show now. But I can’t answer that question, because to me, Alex is synonymous with Jeopardy. He just seems irreplaceable to me.”
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