What did Ken Jennings do for a living? Find out what this 'Jeopardy' host's profession was

The venerated game show, Jeopardy finally has a new host and it is Ken Jennings. Fans of the show were heartbroken when its long time host Alex Trebek passed away on Oct. 29, after battling pancreatic cancer for years. On Monday, January 11, the show went on air with a brand new episode and many fans were heartbroken to tune into the show and not see Alex Trebek. However, at the beginning of the show, Jennings gave a heartfelt speech in which he said, “Sharing this stage with Alex Trebek was one of the greatest honours of my life”. He further expressed, "Not many things in life are perfect, but Alex did this job pretty much perfectly for more than 36 years. And it was even better up close. We were dazzled by his intelligence, his charm, his grace – really, there's no other word for it.” Find out, “What did Ken Jennings do for a living?”

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What did Ken Jennings do for a living?

According to Jeopardy’s official website, Ken Jennings is an American game show contestant, consultant, author, and television host. He is in fact the highest-earning American game show contestant of all time. He is one of the most celebrated winners of the U.S. game show Jeopardy itself. He had the longest winning streak on the show with 74 consecutive wins.

After starring in Jeopardy, the 46-year-old went on several other game shows, such as Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? After his humungous success on Jeopardy!, Jennings wrote a book about his experience and explored American trivia history. The book, Brainiac: Adventures in the Curious, Competitive, Compulsive World of Trivia Buffs, was published in 2006 and is highly regarded by the Jeopardy fans.

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Ken Jennings' Jeopardy debut

In his heartwarming tribute to Alex Trebek, Jennings said, "Like all 'Jeopardy!' fans, I miss Alex, very much," he said. "And I thank him for what he did for all of us. Let's be totally clear, no one will ever replace the great Alex Trebek, but we can honour him by playing the game he loved.” Jennings appeared to have made a spectacular debut as the host. He read thousands of clues to the contestants (61 per day), but viewers and contestants could never mistake his tone for being one of boredom. It was apparent that Jennings had almost mastered the way Trebek used inflexion to make the clues sound interesting and a little bit like questions. The new Jeopardy host’s boyish charm added his own flair to the game show’s episode.

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Ken Jennings’ salary for Jeopardy

So far, the information about how much the game show host is making on Jeopardy has not been released. However, given his experience with game shows such as these, fans can guess that he must be making a good amount. According to Jeopardy’s official website, Ken Jennings will be hosting all other episodes of this season.

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