Jeopardy! drops huge announcement about Ken Jennings’ original 74-day run as fans ‘can’t believe it’s taken so long’
JEOPARDY! fans have scored some welcome news about Ken Jennings that’s left the internet buzzing.
For perhaps the first time since airing, the host’s entire 2004 run as a contestant will be streaming online for free.
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Season 39 of Jeopardy! wrapped on Friday, and the game show is airing reruns until Season 40 premieres on September 11.
However, fans can tune in to more than just recent contestants this summer- they will be treated to the G.O.A.T.
Starting on August 7, fans will relive Ken’s 74-game winning streak on the 24-7 Jeopardy! channel of Pluto TV.
Pluto TV is a free, live-stream TV and on-demand video service from Paramount.
It has more than 250 live channels – albeit with commercial breaks – but fans can also record episodes to watch later.
Reddit users geeked out over the news since Ken’s run – still the longest in history– isn’t available online and hasn’t been in its entirety in memory.
‘GREAT NEWS!’
One fan excitedly wrote: “Fire up your recording devices…”
Another gushed: “The entire run? I will definitely be excited if that’s the case. This is still the most episodes of Ken’s run that have been in one place, as far as I know.”
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A third wrote: “No way?! I hope we can get this in Canada.”
A fourth wrote: “Yes!! I was just recently thinking about how much I’d like to see his old games.”
A fifth wrote: “This is great news to be able to watch his OG run.”
A sixth let fans know that: “Everyone has Pluto. It’s free at Pluto.tv or via the app.”
KEN’S RECORD RUN
Ken was but a Mormon shaggy-haired software engineer from Seattle when he first stepped onto Jeopardy!’s stage in 2004.
Only one year earlier, longtime EP Harry Friedman lifted the five-day win cap.
Before then, that many victories meant a contestant would bow out and go straight to the next Tournament of Champions.
Instead, Ken kept winning – notching 74 victories and raking in an eye-widening $2,520,700.
His streak was the show’s first newsmaking run, and while it’s far from the last- it’s still the longest in history.
Some classic moments fans can relive include Ken incorrectly guessing “hoe” about an “immoral pleasure seeker-” shocking Alex Trebek.
Fans can also watch the moment he got “Zerged” or lost to Nancy Zerg, a realtor from California, in game 75.
Ken infamously flubbed the Final Jeopardy question by writing “Fed-Ex” instead of “H&R block.”
Ken showed no hard feelings as he hugged Nancy on stage, and the crowd gave them a standing ovation [seen above].
Ken later met with Nancy for a photo on his website, and they hilariously held up signs of his incorrect response and her correct one.
“I thought, Somebody is going to beat him, and it might as well be me,’’ Nancy, who lost one game later, told The New York Post. “I watched some of the other players’ attitudes, and they lost the game in the parking garage before they even got to the studio.”
According to The Washington Post, Ken brought to the show an average of two million extra daily viewers, with ratings dipping significantly when he was off the air.
His run wound up airing for seven straight months, with 4,575 questions and 975 categories, and at the time, people were unsure he would ever lose.
“They could not find anybody to really challenge him,” show creator Merv Griffin said in 2004, in the Washington Post. “That scared me a little.”
Ken left 148 challengers in his wake, some asked for autographs, and others were left “annoyed,” according to WaPo.
Ken was chosen along with Mayim Bialik, 47, as the successors for the late Alex Trebek last summer.
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