ShareThisEverybody wants to pick on not-so-poor ol' Ken Jennings.
"People try to stump me with trivia questions," says Jennings, who hosts the "Stump the Master" trivia game at 3 p.m. EDT Fridays on GSN (formerly known as the Game Show Network).
"I was trying to get into my hotel room a few months ago in St. Louis, and the bellman wouldn't let me in until I named all the U.S. vice presidents who succeeded to the presidency early."
He remembered eight of the nine. He forgot Gerald Ford.
That's the kind of life Jennings leads now that he's the biggest game-show winner of all time, thanks to a six-month winning streak on "Jeopardy!" four years ago. His total winnings from the show exceeded $3 million.
Jennings takes all the challenges in stride, though. These days he is a free-lance writer and in-demand television personality. He also blogs about trivia and his latest projects.
Lately, he has been traveling the country to promote local Scholar Bowl events.
"I get to play Alex Trebek a little bit," he says, referring to the "Jeopardy!" host. "It's always more fun when you have the answers in front of you.
"I like events like this because it makes the kids know facts. There's so much emphasis now on teaching kids how to learn, piling them with memorization.
"I think you lose out a lot on cultural literacy if kids don't know some foundation of facts."
Such fact learning has opened doors for Jennings, who is also shooting a pilot for a new game show he'd host.
His GSN gig is done live. Callers get to try and stump Jennings with a trivia question. If they can do it, they win $1,000.
So far, he says, he's "helped" two people win.
(E-mail Terry Morrow of The Knoxville News-Sentinel in Tennessee at morrow2(at)knews.com.)
