It’s finally over for Jeopardy!’s Ken Jennings. The celebrated contestant on the King World Productions syndicated game show, who has won $2,520,700 and won 74 straight times since his first appearance June 2, flubbed the "Final Jeopardy" question on the show broadcast Tuesday night, which was also conveniently the second-to-last night of the November sweeps. (The show was taped Sept. 7.) His win streak—he answered 2,700 correct answers to get there—had greatly boosted the show’s ratings.
In the Final Jeopardy round, the answer was: “Most of this firm’s 70,000 seasonal white-collar employees work only four months a year.” Jennings, who was leading with $14,400 answered: “What is FedEx?” Wrong.
His challenger, Ventura, Calif. realtor Nancy Zerg answered, “What is H&R Block?” Correct! Her wager brought her to $14,401. Jennings’ wrong answer combined with his wasted wager brought him down to $8,799.
Jennings leaves having become something of a household name and is also the new holder of the record for most money ever won on a TV game show, as well as for the most victories.
“It was not a fluke,” Jennings is quoted as saying. “She knew things I didn’t know.” A King World spokeswoman wouldn’t comment on how long Zerg will remain.
