Ken Jennings/Jeopardy! Run

Regular Game

Before the 20th season premiere in 2003, champions had to retire after winning five games. To celebrate season 20 of Jeopardy!, the producers changed that rule, allowing champions to continue playing until they were defeated; it's now known as the "sky's the limit" rule.

Jennings' run began during Jeopardy!'s 20th season with the episode aired on June 2, 2004, in which he unseated two-time returning champion Jerry Harvey, and continued into season 21. In that first episode, Jennings' entire winning streak nearly ended before it even began. The Final Jeopardy answer was, "She's the first female track & field athlete to win medals in five different events at a single Olympics." Jennings responded with "Who is Jones?", using only the last name of Marion Jones (who was not stripped of her medals until December 2007). Host Alex Trebek said, "We will accept that, in terms of female athletes, there aren't that many." If the response had not been accepted, Jennings would have finished in third place, and challenger Julia Lazarus would have won the game.

On June 2, 2004, Ken Jennings's first episode aired. He won the game and proceeded to win all the remaining games during that season. By the end of Season 20, Jennings had accumulated 38 wins. In the process, he broke the single-day winnings record with a $75,000 score in the Season 20 finale episode (aired July 23, 2004).

Jennings returned to begin Season 21. He proceeded to win 36 more games. After the November 29, 2004 show, he had won 74 games for a total of $2,520,700.

Game No.	Air Date	Final score	Cumulative Winnings	Notes
1	June 2, 2004	$37,201	$37,201
2	June 3, 2004	$22,000	$59,201
3	June 4, 2004	$37,000	$96,201
4	June 7, 2004	$30,000	$126,201
5	June 8, 2004	$29,799	$156,000
6	June 9, 2004	$25,000	$181,000
7	June 10, 2004	$50,000	$231,000	Jennings achieved a Coryat Score of $39,200 in this game, which is currently the record for the highest Coryat Score ever. Jennings also broke the record for most money won in regular play, both unadjusted (Tom Walsh, $186,900 - Walsh was also the first ever 7-day champion) and adjusted (Frank Spangenberg, $205,194).
8	June 11, 2004	$35,158	$266,158
9	June 14, 2004	$25,000	$291,158
10	June 15, 2004	$50,000	$341,158
11	June 16, 2004	$35,000	$376,158
12	June 17, 2004	$34,000	$410,158
13	June 18, 2004	$30,000	$440,158
14	June 21, 2004	$31,601	$471,759
15	June 22, 2004	$15,200	$486,959
16	June 23, 2004	$26,000	$512,959
17	June 24, 2004	$40,000	$552,959
18	June 25, 2004	$48,801	$601,760	At the time, Michael Cudahy’s $44,400 was the record for the highest second-place score ever; coincidentally, the current record of $53,999 was set by Adam Levin in James Holzhauer’s eighteenth game.
19	June 28, 2004	$21,000	$622,760
20	June 29, 2004	$40,000	$662,760
21	June 30, 2004	$35,000	$697,760
22	July 1, 2004	$40,000	$737,760
23	July 2, 2004	$17,600	$755,360
24	July 5, 2004	$19,600	$774,960
25	July 6, 2004	$14,000	$788,960
26	July 7, 2004	$40,000	$828,960
27	July 8, 2004	$40,000	$868,960
28	July 9, 2004	$52,000	$920,960	Tied Brian Weikle’s one-day record, set the year before.
29	July 12, 2004	$52,000	$972,960	Tied Weikle’s one-day record again.
30	July 13, 2004	$32,000	$1,004,960	Had Jennings gotten Final Jeopardy correct, he would have broken the one-day record. He also crossed the $1 million mark in this game, though slower than Holzhauer (14 games) and Matt Amodio and Amy Schneider (28 games each).
31	July 14, 2004	$17,500	$1,022,460
32	July 15, 2004	$28,000	$1,050,460
33	July 16, 2004	$50,000	$1,100,460
34	July 19, 2004	$35,000	$1,135,460
35	July 20, 2004	$29,200	$1,164,460	Jennings successfully rang in first on 82.14% of all clues played this game (per thejeopardyfan.com). He also broke Brad Rutter’s record for highest-earning player ever and would have tied Weikle’s one-day record a third time had he gotten Final Jeopardy! correct.
36	July 21, 2004	$30,000	$1,194,460
37	July 22, 2004	$52,000	$1,246,660	Tied Weikle’s one-day record for the third time, to which Alex Trebek theorized that Jennings was doing so for the sole purpose of annoying him.
38	July 23, 2004	$75,000	$1,321,660	Jennings set the one-day record ($75,000) as well as the record for highest score going into Final Jeopardy ($51,400). It is also the highest number of correct answers in one game by a single player (including FJ!, 45-2). However, this did not break the adjusted record, set at $55,000 by Jack Lechner (12/2/88).
39	September 6, 2004	$10,001	$1,331,661	The first game of Season 21. Jennings lost $21,599 in Final Jeopardy, which broke the record for highest amount of money lost; however, once again, this did not break the adjusted record, set at $30,000 also by Lechner's same game (12/2/88).
40	September 7, 2004	$21,800	$1,353,461
41	September 8, 2004	$27,200	$1,380,461
42	September 9, 2004	$21,800	$1,402,461
43	September 10, 2004	$30,000	$1,432,461
44	September 13, 2004	$45,000	$1,477,461
45	September 14, 2004	$40,000	$1,517,461
46	September 15, 2004	$37,600	$1,555,061
47	September 16, 2004	$30,000	$1,585,061
48	September 17, 2004	$50,000	$1,635,061	After this win, he had to wait two weeks due to the 2004 Tournament of Champions.
49	October 4, 2004	$29,601	$1,664,462	This was the first regular play game of Season 21 to be taped after the show’s summer hiatus. Now, new contestants got much more practice time with the buzzer, which Jennings nearly fell victim to on his first day back to Jeff Suchard. Luckily, Suchard did not get Final Jeopardy correct, even though he would have finished in second either way as Jennings did get Final correct and wagered enough to cover Suchard’s doubled score. Because of Jennings’ loss being spoiled, beginning on this day, Johnny Gilbert’s daily introduction of Jennings only featured how much money he had won up to that point.
50	October 5, 2004	$35,038	$1,699,700
51	October 6, 2004	$38,400	$1,738,100
52	October 7, 2004	$40,000	$1,778,100
53	October 8, 2004	$30,000	$1,808,100
54	October 11, 2004	$35,000	$1,843,100
55	October 12, 2004	$35,000	$1,878,100
56	October 13, 2004	$28,300	$1,906,400
57	October 14, 2004	$29,900	$1,936,300
58	October 15, 2004	$40,000	$1,976,300	After this win, he had to wait one week due to the 2004-B Kids Week.
59	October 25, 2004	$30,000	$2,006,300	Jennings crosses the $2 million mark.
60	October 26, 2004	$25,000	$2,031,300
61	October 27, 2004	$34,001	$2,065,301
62	October 28, 2004	$30,000	$2,095,301
63	October 29, 2004	$30,000	$2,125,301	Jennings got his tenth consecutive Final Jeopardy correct.
64	November 1, 2004	$26,600	$2,151,901	Competitor Ben Wiles wrote as his Final Jeopardy answer, “What is see next podium” and an arrow he drew to point to Jennings’ podium, but instead pointed to Lisa Ellis’ podium. This turned out to be a fortuitous mistake, as Ellis got Final Jeopardy correct while Jennings did not.
65	November 3, 2004	$45,099	$2,197,000	Ken breaks Kevin Olmstead's record for most money won on a television game show. U.S. presidential election coverage bumped this game's airing by one day. Affiliates with no election coverage aired the "4,000th Episode" special (#4088) on 2004-11-02.
66	November 4, 2004	$50,000	$2,247,000
67	November 5, 2004	$25,600	$2,272,600
68	November 6, 2004	$33,201	$2,305,801	U.S. presidential election coverage on 2004-11-02 bumped airdates for games this week by one day, resulting in a Saturday airdate for an original episode.
69	November 8, 2004	$19,200	$2,325,001
70	November 9, 2004	$30,000	$2,355,001	Originally, Jennings’ loss was scheduled to air today; however, due to numerous online spoilers, the show resorted to putting its then-annual Kids Week and College Championship tournaments in between Jennings’ last several games, hoping that it would mitigate the effects of the spoiler; it did not.
71	November 24, 2004	$55,099	$2,410,100
72	November 25, 2004	$50,000	$2,460,100
73	November 26, 2004	$31,600	$2,491,700
74	November 29, 2004	$29,000	$2,520,700
75	November 30, 2004	$8,799	$2,522,700	Nancy Zerg ends Ken's streak.

Spoilers Before His Last Regular Game

During a summer taping, reports from audience members claimed that Jennings had lost during a Season 21 show while trying for his 75th consecutive win.[1] These rumors circulated as the summer and fall of 2004 progressed. But, due to the official forum's no-spoiler policy, the rumor became known as "That Which Must Not Be Mentioned."

The original date for Jennings's loss was November 9, 2004. But, the show's producers tried to mitigate the effects of the spoiler. First, they dubbed out Johnny Gilbert's announcement of the number of games won during games 49 through 73. Second, the show interspersed special weeks into Jennings's run. But fans quickly adjusted, and it became known that "D-Day" would be November 30, 2004.

On November 26, 2004, a Georgia station accidentally aired the Final Jeopardy! round from Jennings's last regular game. Over the weekend, audio clips of that fateful Final Jeopardy! circulated over the internet.

On November 30, 2004, Ken Jennings led challenger Nancy Zerg by $14,400 to $10,000, but lost in Final Jeopardy!. Ken's other challenger, David Hankins, finished Double Jeopardy! at -$2,800 and received $1,000 in third place cash, but wasn't allowed to compete in Final Jeopardy!. The Final Jeopardy! answer in the category of BUSINESS AND INDUSTRY was the following: "Most of this firm's 70,000 seasonal white-collar employees work only 4 months a year." Zerg correctly questioned, "What is H&R Block" and gained $4,401 to move to $14,401. Jennings, but mentioned "What is FedEx?" losing $5,601 and finishing in second place at $8,799. With the $2,000 second-place cash added to his total, he left with a total of $2,522,700.

Tournaments and Events

• On the December 1, 2004 episode of Jeopardy!, Jennings appeared at the beginning for a recap of the game show records he had broken or tied during his streak.
• He won the 2005 Ultimate Tournament of Champions' second-place prize of $500,000, the 2011 IBM challenge second-place prize of $300,000, and the 2014 Battle of the Decades Tournament of Champions second-place prize of $100,000, all three opposite Brad Rutter. His all-time earnings on Jeopardy! total $3,522,700.
• Because of his bye into the three-game finals of the Ultimate Tournament of Champions, he was guaranteed $250,000, the top prize for a normal TOC. The bye required him to give up his seat in the 2006 TOC.
• He appeared in the 2019 All-Star Games and split the $300,000 second-place prize with teammates Matt Jackson (13-time winner from 2014) and Monica Thieu (2012 College Championship winner). As before, he was beaten by Brad Rutter, who split the $1 million top prize with teammates David Madden (19-time winner from 2005) and Larissa Kelly (6-time winner from 2008).
• On January 14, 2020, Ken beat Brad Rutter and James Holzhauer in the primetime special Jeopardy!: The Greatest of All Time, winning a million dollars. This put him back into the top spot of most money ever won on a game show, edging out Rutter by a mere $70,000. After this competition, he elected not to participate in future tournaments as a contestant.