ken, you rock my world!
i would post more but i gotta go watch jeopardy now.
don't lose tonight
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Laura

	AP Photo/Sony-Jeopardy
	Ken Jennings of Salt Lake City, Utah. His run of victories on "Jeopardy" has stirred up deep passions among the game show's loyal following.

Ken is Ken Jennings, the 30-year-old Utah software engineer and "Jeopardy!" juggernaut who has crushed the opposition for 26 straight shows and $828,960. Laura is a chat-room fan of the Mormon phenom with the high forehead and low-set elfy ears who has boosted ratings for "Jeopardy!" and sparked adoration and hatred among viewers of the long-running television game show.

Re: The ruination of Jeopardy
Originally posted by good2cats
I now tape the show and screen the final scores to determine if the insipid twerp is still there and if he is I erase the tape without viewing.
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From KenFan01:
Ken can't help it he's so smart. So what if he keeps winning? I hope he does!
Go Ken!

Jennings, who in last night's airing admitted that "being a nerd really pays off sometimes," is the first contestant to go on a long winning streak since the show scrapped its former five-day limit on appearances. Jennings, the father of a 1-year-old who plans to donate 10 percent of his winnings to the Mormon church, looks a little like a benign Alfred E. Newman. He is a veteran of high school and college quiz shows and edits questions for national quiz bowl competitions.

That experience seems to have put him out of his competitors' league. He has dominated most of the games, often burning through all the answers in a category (such as "Novel Quotes" on Tuesday night) while his two opponents stand transfixed with their unused buzzers in hand. Since he got into double-digit wins last month, he has been the subject matter in real and virtual water-cooler conversations, where viewers from Antwerp to Alabama speculate on what has made him so unstoppable on the show with the answer-with-a-question format.

From febutterfly:
Ken,
My father and I have been watching you for weeks now, and you are hands down the most amazing player we've ever seen! My father insists you're an android (of the benign, Data variety, not the sinister HAL kind), but I just compare you to the Energizer Bunny. You've become a folk hero in my house, and I've decided I want to study you for science. Or I would if I was any kind of doctor and not a budding linguist.
Thank you for bringing some excitement back to Jeopardy -- we haven't had this much fun watching in years!

It's not just the brain that wins in Jeopardy, though, it's also technique.

Ringing in with the contestant "signaling device" at the right moment is key, said Brad Rutter of Lancaster, Pa., who still holds the title of most money won on "Jeopardy!" -- $1.15 million.

"It's more about timing than speed," he said. There are sets of lights on either side of the Jeopardy answer board, Rutter said. The contestants' hand buzzers are locked until the moment host Alex Trebek finishes reading the answer (that is, the question), which also appears on the electronic Jeopardy board. Contestants must simultaneously listen to the answer ("The city of Helena") and watch the lights for the moment when they can press their buzzers for the right to provide the correct question ("What is the capital of Montana?").

"Ringing in early means you have to wait before you can ring again -- it locks you out for about half a second, which doesn't sound like a lot of time but when two other people are also ringing in, it is," said Rutter, who earned his record amount of money in three stints over an 18-month-period from 2000 to 2002 -- five wins, which was then the limit, on regular "Jeopardy!", then returns in Tournament of Champions and Million Dollar Masters.

Steve Beverly, a game show historian who has named Jennings player of the week five times on his Web site tvgameshows.net, agrees that ring-in technique is crucial.

"He is undeniably one of the most amazing players ever with a buzzer, which at times is not as evident because the show long since eliminated the 'ring' when the contestants click in for their questions," said Beverly.

Viewers have zeroed in on this skill. AhhAlegra, posting from a chat room subtitled "Forums of Mass Distraction," commented:

Ken is amazing. We've watched him for a while and concluded he's not just smarter, he has faster reflexes than the other contestants. They've put him up against some very smart people . . . where there were very few wrong answers from anyone -- he just rings in RIGHT at the moment you're allowed to.

Wraith Leader thinks he's figured out Jennings' tactic.

This guy is incredible. I watched him simply out-speed a couple fairly competitive opponents in two consecutive evenings. I think he's speed-reading the question, then formulating the answer before Alex finishes, so he rings in immediately.

Jennings is getting a lot of attention in the press, as well. A June 30 article from the Toronto Star has been posted on several sites:

"The first 'answer' in the first category selected ('TV Shows In Other Words') was, 'Chaplin's Cherubim.' As millions of viewers simultaneously exclaimed, 'Huh?,' Jennings' lectern illuminated and he said, 'Who are Charlie's Angels?' "

People posting on the "Next Level" were divided over whether it was genius and reflexes or something more nefarious that was fueling Jennings' success. Two "Geeks with Attitude," as the chat room is subtitled, ruminated:

Sounds pretty fishy to me
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Cheater alert ;)
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but how does he cheat? Earpiece?
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Of course, silly!
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Maybe the parent company (Sony) is letting him cheat to boost ratings
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It would be fairly easy to cheat if you use a flesh colored ear piece
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The shows airing now were taped in February, and Jennings is home in Utah, but he is sworn to secrecy about whether his winning streak continued through the end of the season, or whether he will come back when the fall season starts. Many fans are irked that the five game limit was lifted. One person posted to a message board on the official "Jeopardy!" Web site:

Can't take Ken anymore
My family and I cannot take another day of Ken. I don't think anything here is fixed, but the other contestants seem to roll over for him. He rings in very quickly and builds momentum. And somehow he hits all the Daily Doubles. Even if it's possible on any given day that he could be beaten, by the middle of Double Jeopardy, it's too late. No suspense in Final Jeopardy, so I stopped watching that round. Don't care if he sets a one-day record. . . PLEASE GO BACK TO THE 5-TIME MAXIMUM!! At least annoying contestants are gone in a few days.

Many other fans are on Jennings' side, celebrating his brains and cool head. They send him congratulations and questions on the "Jeopardy!" message board. One was curious as to whether Jennings, now at home, was watching himself nightly.

Ken, do you play along at your own games, or would that be too redundant for you/annoying for your family/etc.? Surely you've forgotten what most of the actual clues are, so it could still be fun. Maybe you get questions right that you got wrong on show when you play along at home?

Jennings replied:

Annoyingly, I always get exactly the same things wrong. Last night I remember being as clueless as ever on "What is Fredericksburg?" I guess a heated Jeopardy game isn't the best place for learning new things. . .