"You gonna fall in the 4th round, the 4th, don't forget"

Who told him?

wife, jeapordy, himself. it was a quiz show fix.

Andrew--this is wonderful and so lovely!

Thank you!

Here we have one of the reasons for our (designers’) existence.

Allow me to elaborate.

When I pitch a client I dress in a suit, but my work would still be the same if I was wearing a tshirt. When someone special comes to my house for dinner I put out the matching plates, but that doesn't make the food taste any different. Before I go on a date with my wife I comb my hair, but I'm still the same guy she's been stuck with for all these years. So why bother?

Because at the subconscious level I think we all understand what Ken seemed to understand — that putting extra efffort into appearances has value. (We all know that design is much more than appearance, but I'll save that debate for another day.)

Ken would still be Ken if he just wrote out his name in standard chicKEN scratch. But he deliberately put in some extra effort.

Thank you Ken.

And thank you to the “Ken's” of the world who expended the effort in using the power of design to show the world that appearances not only matter, they say something about who we are. Companies like Target, VW, Fossil, and of course, Apple.

>it was a quiz show fix

Man, I totally agree! It was such an anticlimatic loss on such an obvious question. He also missed a couple of big double-jeopardy questions, something he'd never done before. I think he finally said "enough" — he knew that he'd beaten the game. He probably also missed his family and friends—hell, he'd been on the bloody show for almost 6 months, spanning two seasons.

>a tie for most consecutive contestant appearances on a TV game show

I thought the previous record was 42 consecutive appearances, which Ken easily beat. Are you sure?

Fun post.

>a tie for most consecutive contestant appearances on a TV game show

Ian Lygo set a record of 75 appearances on the British game show "The 100 Percent Show." Apparently, he was asked by show producers to step off because viewers were complaining that the show was getting boring.

That's the most reliable information I have, Tan. Google "Ian Lygo" and see what comes up. There are a number of AP sources giving the same information.

Both might be correct. The record of 42 was probably for a US show — I think it was Joker's Wild or something stupid like that. I just remember Trebek specifically referring to that number on one show...

Thanks for the geek trivia reply :-)

No problem, Tan.

At one point Ken said they taped 5 episodes a day, so even at 75 shows, that's only 15 days in the studio, 3 weeks. That's not too bad for 2.5 million.

Branding damage control:

"H & R Block got hold of me and they've offered me free financial services for life," he said, grinning as if he had just nailed a question on medieval horticulture. "So that I never forget their name again." — The New York Times

> At one point Ken said they taped 5 episodes a day

Can you imagine playing Jeorpardy 5 times in one day? I'd be exhausted. That might make the run even more impressive. I'd probably start drafting my name too if I had to do it 5 times a day for 3 weeks.

The site said that the taping of all of Jennings’ shows actually took place in February, March, and April. The five shows a day rate probably was the extreme, not the norm.

But no matter how you slice it, what he did was damn impressive.

That's a great post!

I-can’t-think-of-anything-so-I’ll-just-make-a-big-“K” Ken

That would look something like this!

i think it is 5 shows a day..every 2 weeks.. because jen said he was flying out every two weeks to tape the show.

or.. something or other.. but 5 shows then a break.

ken jennings is just making fun of everyone because he is so smart. like writing his name in greek.

So now that he's famous...

They should invite him back for celebrity Jeopardy - or at least have him guest host.

Yeah, then he can actually trump Trebek, who only acts like he knows all the answers (ooh, I'm sorry, but we were looking for Jacques Cousteau...)

maybe he can take over when Trebek retires. The Jeopardy crowd will have a familiar name and face and it will be easy for the announcer to get it right every time.

The fix is in!! That truly was such an obvious question I can't believe he didn't get it.

I'm glad he lost. I was getting tired of the Ken Jennings Show. The only reason I tuned in the few times I did was to see if he lost. I think that's the only reason other people tuned in as well. It was a false victory. I don't mean to disrespect his vast knowledge. But, much of his victory is also due to the fact that after the first few shows he had mastered the buzzer. Ken Jenning's thumb won, not his brain.

But, much of his victory is also due to the fact that after the first few shows he had mastered the buzzer. Ken Jenning's thumb won, not his brain.

you can't be serious. even buzzing in first can't ensure you'll answer so many right. the man was winning by leaps and bounds on a regular basis...you really believe that's due to the buzzer? that's pretty silly.

as for it being fixed cause the question was SO obvious...perhaps that's what did him in. it was so obvious it eluded him. I had a complete brain fart when the question was asked as well and unlike ken, I get my taxes done at H&R block every single year. regardless, it wouldn't matter what question he lost on, people would still be screaming about conspiracies theories. such is the life of geeks ("not that there's anything wrong with that").

Thanks for the collection of Ken name art!

Great site!

Do you (or anybody) have all 75 stylings of "ken"?

Greg, sorry, I think this is all we have. Andrew Twigg who wrote the article mentioned that this is what he could get his hands on.

I think Ken purposely lost because he felt he had won enough ! By the way, did he ever answer the question "How did he prepare for Jeopardy ! ?

How did he know all that stuff???

> did he ever answer the question "How did he prepare for Jeopardy ! ?

I remember an interview where he disclosed the top 5 or so topics that increased your chances on Jeopardy. He said if you concentrated on them, your odds would be good. I don't remember them all, but they included:

> US presidents and their history — know their wives, their VPs, their term history, etc. backwards and forwards

> Geography — know every lake, town, and mountain on Earth

> the Bible — it's a very frequent source for questions. Since Ken was a devout Mormon, this ended up being one of his strongest categories.

> Film and television — names, awards, trivia, etc. Ken was also a movie buff and fanatic, which is another reason why he did so well.

> Shakespeare — apparently was the most common literary topic for final jeopardy questions

But what most people didn't realize was that Ken was sort of a professional trivia player. He belonged to a number of national trivia clubs, and spent much of his pasttime training and participating in local and national trivia competitions. He was grand champion of this trivia club, president of that trivia club, etc. He admitted that his goal was to train to become the greatest champion in Jeopardy history — which he accomplished. It wasn't by accident or random circumstance that he did what he did. There's nothing wrong with that.

This is amusing. Mostly because it shows that nothing will escape human attention given enough exposure.