Jeopardy champion-turned-host Ken Jennings has been writing online trivia quizzes since 2012. Called “Kennections,” the series began at Parade but quickly moved to Mental Floss where they’re still published weekly. Here’s the set up: Ken presents five clues you have to fill in the answer for, and then at the end you have to figure out the “kennection” linking all five answers. (And if you miss an early question he’s kind enough to give you the final five so you can guess the link at the end.) It’s fun and harder than it looks! Back in July, Ken put all the puzzles together in a book called The Complete Kennections. Again, that happened in July. But for some reason it was last Wednesday that Ken held an Ask Me Anything (AMA) on Reddit in promotion of his “new” book. Maybe there’s a nerdy lesson about time that explains the delay, I don’t know. What I do know, is that Ken’s answers were candid and, at times, hilarious.
Jennings, who was named the sole Jeopardy! host in December 2023, following Mayim Bialik’s departure, was asked how he makes “even the most mundane, awkward contestant bio story charming and relatable.”
The host admitted that he “never liked the interviews as a viewer,” finding them “Too cringe too often.” He even said he’d leave the room to “get a pop” instead of watching them. However, after becoming a contestant in 2004, Jennings said he now has “a great feeling of warmth for these interviews.”
“It’s not the players’ fault we stop the game and make them chat about nothing! They are not experienced talk show guests!” he added. “So I try to make that part of the show as smooth as I possibly can, for viewers like me who also don’t like it.”
Jennings holds the record for most consecutive Jeopardy! wins with 74, and he still carries that competitive edge. He confessed how he likes to “play along” when he gets the scripts “by covering up the responses and seeing how I do.”
“I am definitely not in 2004 Jeopardy fighting shape (50yo brain is not the same as 30yo brain, unfortunately). But I’m not terrible, I think I’d still be in the mix most nights,” he stated.
In addition to learning scripts, Jennings also wears an earpiece throughout the taping to receive instructions from producers. However, he revealed the earpiece is primarily used to signal breaks and “the only time it gets used during gameplay is to tell me we are on the 15th clue of the first round and it’s time to go to break.”
As for favorite categories, Jennings noted there is a split of opinion regarding the celebrity guest categories, where a famous person reads out the clue in a pre-recorded video.
“I’ve noticed that harder-core Jeopardy! fans don’t love the guest categories, because it alters the show rhythm, but we love them and we think casual viewers do too,” he shared, noting that it adds “much-needed variety” and “production value” when a guest turns up.
“Wouldn’t you rather look at Scarlett Johansson than me? We just had Ari Shapiro do a category and I learned I’m not even NPR-hot,” he quipped.
This will tell you everything you need to know about me, but my burning question after reading this is the following: when Ken says that as a viewer he used to leave the room and “get a pop” during the contestant interviews, does he mean a popsicle or soda? Just sayin’, if this anecdote got turned into a Jeopardy clue one day and a contestant rang in with the answer “What is pop?” do you think the judges would accept that as specific enough? Because I sure don’t! Plus if I don’t ask these questions, who will?! Anyway, like Ken, my family also used to check out for the interviews (though we’d always have our beverages and snacks assembled before the show began, ahem). Then overnight it switched and we started watching that section. I don’t know why, I wasn’t consulted, it just happened. But I don’t regret it. For one, I’m a gal who delights in watching awkward scenes unfold before me. But ultimately, I find the rich and diverse display of humanity an education in and of itself.
PS — Major LOL to “I learned I’m not even NPR-hot.” That man can bring the sass.
🚨 Serial Killer Alert on Jeopardy 🚨 pic.twitter.com/tchr0RuXRX
— Robbie Fox (@RobbieBarstool) February 20, 2019
photos credit: Faye’s Vision/Cover Images
Yeah, the intros are cringe. I’ve often wondered what I would say! I have nothing cool
Pop=soda. It’s a midwestern thing. lol. Source: living my entire life in Ohio where carbonated beverages are always pop.
I grew up in the Midwest (Cleveland and Chicago) and during that time always referred to soda as pop. After grad school I moved to LA where carbonated beverages are known as soda. The odd thing is that Jennings never lived in the Midwest. He lived in Washington state and then Korea as a kid. For college he went to BYU. He didn’t even live in the Midwest anytime thereafter.
Pittsburgh, PA and surrounding areas say Pop. I had no idea anywhere else did it until I moved to Minnesota.
I grew up in Toronto and we also said pop not soda. And running shoes.
Contestants on game shows are usually expected to talk about themselves and their careers and interests.
Pop = soda = coke
Dontcha know?
The NYT had a dialect quiz a while ago that could detect where you are from by the words you choose for different items. I got a bunch of people at work to do it at that time and it was freakishly accurate! The questions were stuff like what do you call the thing you put your items in at the grocery store? I say “buggy” but you might say “cart.” What do you call carbonated beverages? You might say “pop” but it’s all “coke” to me. P.S. I want to join the Dana Scully cult now!
I say soda but I grew up with pop (Cleveland!), which I was bullied for saying in college and thereafter, and so I conformed. I remember that quiz, it was a lot of fun, and VERY specific. It was spot on with the results too
While most peop!e called athletic shoes sneakers, in Cleveland we referred to them as tennis shoes. After decades of living in California I made the switch to soda but the shoe nomenclature stands.
I grew up saying tennis shoes too except we pronounced it “tenney shoes!”
Yes tennis shoes!! Which is so funny because I literally never played tennis
My sister was on Jeopardy about 20 years ago (multi-day winner, thank you very much, lol!) and she said that the contestants provide the information that gets used for the contestant interview. So they know what’s coming and should be prepared to talk about the details they’ve given the production team! She also said that you provide “new” information every time you return so the contestant interview is fresh.
Fun story, I had a really unusual last name before I got married and when my sister was on the show, a friend at work said, “hey, I was watching Jeopardy and there was a girl on there with your last name!” I said, “yeah, Mike, she’s my sister.” He said, “no she’s not!” I said, “yeah, she is.” He said, “she can’t be, she doesn’t look like you AT ALL.” (it’s true, she’s petite with red hair and I’m tall with brown hair.) I said, “MIKE. She’s my sister. You were at my wedding. She dropped the ring, remember?” He said, “oh, yeah! That is your sister.” 😆
here2 – Congratulations to your sister!
I qualified for the show and was placed in the “contestant pool” in 2020, but was never called to appear on TV. I had to provide five short but interesting talking points that could be used for the on-air interview, so that Alex could pick one and ask me. Potential contestants go through several rounds of tests and interviews; everyone I encountered on the production staff was extremely nice and encouraging. Anyone can take the online test at any time – our smart community of Celebitches should all try!
Congrats to you, too! You have to be smart and well-informed to pass the qualifying test! I don’t think I have what it takes, lol.
I’ve never heard of popsicles called pop. I grew up in Arizona and it was hot AF so we ate plenty of them. Maybe push-up pops, but those were more yogurt.-y. Anyway…
I jumped in for the pop v soda debate, stayed for the tennis shoes! I grew up in the northern panhandle of WV, which is close to Pittsburgh and borders OH, so firmly in pop/tennis shoes land – I never played tennis either – I’ve tried to adapt and say “sneakers” or “joggers” but I wear crocs a lot these days so that makes it easier lol…When I went to college there were a lot of out-of-state students and I actually started saying “soda”, I think I use both interchangeably now…Anyway, I’m a linguistics nerd, love talking dialects and accents and slang 🙂