Today’s contestants:
Laura Adomunas, a pharmacist from Sayreville, NJ |
Susan Gress, a marina operator from Portland, OR |
Ken Jennings, a software engineer from Salt Lake City, UT (6-day total: $181,000) |
Alex opens this game with: “Our champion, Ken, here has won six games. He will remain champion on the program until he is defeated. That could well be 20 games. Could be 30. Who knows?”
J! round categories: THE BROOKLYN BRIDGE; CLIFF NOTES; VERB FIRST NAMES; “C”OUNTRIES; YOU’RE 21 TODAY; WOULD YOU LIKE A BEVERAGE?
After Laura made it a True Daily Double on the 9th clue of the round, the scores after 10 clues sat at:
Laura $4,000
Ken $2,200
Susan -$1,000
This was, effectively, the high-water mark for Ken’s opposition today. Laura went 3/5 in “C”OUNTRIES, but in this round? Ken went 5/5 in VERB FIRST NAMES and YOU’RE 21 TODAY, and 3/5 in THE BROOKLYN BRIDGE, CLIFF NOTES.
Also noteworthy, the BEVERAGE $1,000 clue: Perrier’s “475 parts per million total dissolved solids” makes it this type of water (What is mineral water). Indicative how just how much Ken dominated the buzzer in this game, this was the only correct response Susan was able to give.
After 30 clues, we sat at:
Ken $9,600
Laura $4,600
Susan $-600
DJ! round categories: THE MIND; THEY ALL PLAYED COUNTRY SINGERS; JUNE BUGGED; OBSERVATIONS & CELEBRATIONS; PULITZER PRIZES; A RUNNING “TAB”
Ken rattled off the first eight correct in this round, including running THE MIND. At the 11-clue mark, we had:
Ken $17,000
Laura $7,800
Susan $-600
Ken then found some sort of extra gear. Over the final nineteen clues, Ken picked up an incredible seventeen of them. By the time the carnage was over, Ken had gone 5/5 in THE MIND, and OBSERVATIONS & CELEBRATIONS, 4/5 in JUNE BUGGED, PULITZER PRIZES, and A RUNNING “TAB”, and 3/5 in THEY ALL PLAYED COUNTRY SINGERS.
The 25 correct responses Ken gave in Double Jeopardy in total is believed to be a record, as is his Coryat score for the entire game ($39,200). Ken was also believed to be the only person to run 4 categories in a single match until Andrew Pau did so on April 19, 2016.
Scores going into Final Jeopardy:
Ken $40,600
Laura $9,800
Susan -$1,400
Final Jeopardy! category: ENTERTAINMENT
Final Jeopardy! clue: This title character who debuted in 1999 was created by former marine biology educator Steve Hillenburg
Who is Spongebob Squarepants?
Laura 9800 – 9800 = 0 (no response)
Ken 40600 + 9400 = 50000 (7-day total: $231,000)
$231,000, of course was the regular-season record up to that point!
Ken could have won $61,599 in this game without jeopardizing his runaway.
Remember to vote in our Poll of the Week!
[yop_poll id=”4″]
Ken’s interview:
Alex: What were your expectations before you got here?
Ken: Oh, everybody was telling me, “Oh, you’re gonna do great on Jeopardy!” And I didn’t really have that much faith. And I just told them that I didn’t want to be the guy who was negative going into Final Jeopardy! So, that was my big goal.
Alex: Well, you’ve achieved your goal.
Ken’s stats through 7 games:
236 correct (44 today, including Final)
13 incorrect (2 today)
10/11 on Daily Doubles
5/7 in Final Jeopardy
54.64% in first on buzzer
Average Coryat Score: $28,229
5 correct responses in a category: 8 times
4 correct responses in a category: 19 times
3 correct responses in a category: 22 times
(contestant photo credit: jeopardy.com)
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