On November 30, 2004, JEOPARDY! contestant Ken Jennings lost his championship title after winning 74 straight games and more than $2.5 million, a record for U.S. game shows. Jennings' unexpected winning streak gave the show a huge rating's boost and made the software engineer from Salt Lake City, Utah a TV legend and household name. Below, check out the Final Jeopardy 'answer' which led to Jennings' demise!
Later that year, Jennings was named one of Barbara Walters 10 most fascinating people of the year and popped up as a guest on such shows as Late Night with David Letterman, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and Sesame Street. He went on to become a product spokesman for various companies and penned several books.
Created by TV talk-show host and entertainment mogul Merv Griffin, Jeopardy! debuted in 1964 on NBC, with Art Fleming as host. Griffin created the unique format in which contestants were given trivia answers in a variety of categories and then required to come up with the questions. In 1984, a new syndicated version of the show premiered with Alex Trebek as host.
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