Show t When ta en Is s Kens Ken's ens en's Final ina Jeopardy eo ar 1 Rumor Has as It That a Ml III Lisa de Moraes The Washington Post Answer This company has a workforce of people whose average working year is only four months long Question What's the alleged Final Jeopardy answer that supposedly brought down Jeopardy uber-contestant uber Ken Jennings last week according to reports that started circulating circulating circulating cir cir- cir cir- last Wednesday THIS COLUMN MAY BE A SPOILER IF YOU WANT TO BE SURPRISED DO NOT READ FURTHER IF YOU DO YOU MAY NOT COMPLAIN THAT WE HAVE RUINED IT FOR YOU WE ARE NOT KID KID- DING According to the reports making the rounds Jennings lost in a show that was taped on September Jeopardy typically tapes multiple episodes two days a week banking episodes to play out over a period of weeks Jennings finally lost after winning 75 consecutive consecutive consecutive con con- games and amassing about 25 million million million mil mil- mil mil- lion according to the Web site which posted the first report early Wednesday morning citing tipster super Phillip as its source Hours later the same information appeared on the Web site of trade publication TV Week which cited unnamed sources This in turn was picked up by the Associated Press which credited TV Week and the rest is history By Thursday morning Jennings' Jennings alleged loss was being reported around the country as fact on syndicated infotainment infotainment infotainment info info- shows and TV stations' stations local morning morning morning morn morn- ing news programs creator Jason Kottke said Thursday that tipster super Phillip is just a reader of my Web site Ive I've never heard from him before I dont don't know him at all Kottke said But he added late Wednesday he got another email email email e- e mail from a woman also unknown to Kottke who said she had gone to a taping of the show that day and no Ken Jennings was in sight I kind of took that as corroboration that Jennings did in fact lose at some point after that Kottke said From my standpoint I feel that its it's been verified In response to queries about the story production production production pro pro- house King World said in a statement that Jeopardy is now in its season and since its inception we have never disclosed whether a contestant has won or lost before a ashow ashow ashow show has aired We have no intention of changing this policy Last September producers of the game show created by Merv Griffin decided to abolish abolish abolish abol abol- ish the cap of five wins that it had imposed on winners since its inception By allowing contestants contestants contestants con con- to keep playing until they lose the new rule paved the way for super-colossus super contestant Jennings Broadcasts of the winning winning winning win win- ning ways of the software engineer from Salt Lake City began airing June 6 This week he returned to the fray after the show took a six- six week summer hiatus It would be very easy to start a hoax and spread the rumor former Jeopardy contes- contes r r 1 I pl p l r J l lr lr B r j y r r y rl d 3 r y fl rr r s I I y Yr r r r tn Ua a u UC C o OT Utahn Ken Jennings is the ultimate winner Is his ride over tant Nick Aretakis told us Thursday The report going around this week is within with with- in the realm of possibilities said Aretakis who is among those who have gone down in inflames inflames inflames flames opposite Jennings The story kind of has its facts straight so it would be plausible It says he lost on his show and that it would air some time in October That's on schedule and would mean six more weeks of shows Hes He's now at 13 million and if the rumor is true it would put him close to 25 million Aretakis said explaining that Jennings has been averaging about per episode If you extrapolate per game for another 30 games hes he's right around there he said But anybody who wants to spread a rumor could do that math he added Yeah right Ahem J. J One thing that bothers Aretakis tip Super ster Phillip reported that during Jennings' Jennings final Jeopardy taping he got the two Daily Doubles in Double Jeopardy and he bet each time and lost both times tunes According to Aretakis Jennings usually does not bet a round number on the Daily Doubles rather an amount that would take him up to a round number Aretakis also noted that since Jennings returned on Monday he hasn't dominated the competition to the same degree as he did before Maybe hes he's gotten kind of rusty but buthe buthe buthe he missed all four Final this week I think its it's a measure of how great a contestant contestant contestant con con- he is that we cant can't believe he missed a question By the way that final Final Jeopardy question question question ques ques- tion is according to What is HR lock Block I J |