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Ken Jennings, 49, rose to prominence as a game show contestant during Jeopardy‘s 20th season back in 2003. Before that time, contestants had been limited just five consecutive wins on the popular show, but a rule change allowed the software engineer from Utah to dominate for a whopping 75 games. The historic reign on the show finally ended on November 30, 2004, when he lost to challenger Nancy Zerg. When all was said and done, his winnings totaled $2,522,700.
But the story doesn’t end there for Ken — he went on to ultimately become a consulting producer on Jeopardy between 2020 and 2022. In 2020, following the death of longtime host Alex Trebek, it was announced he would take on an interim hosting role — something that would ultimately become a full-time gig alongside Mayim Bialik, who departed the show in December of 2023.
Ken with the late Alex Trebek in 2004. (Sony/Shutterstock)
Behind the scenes, Ken is supported by his wife of 23 years, Mindy Boam, and their two children. Find out what to know about Ken’s daughter and son below.
Dylan Jennings
Ken’s oldest son is his lookalike Dylan Jennings, now 20 years old. Though Ken mostly keeps his kids from public view, he did share a fun social media post about his oldest child in September of 2022. Alongside a pic of Dylan rocking a blue Mariners jersey at a ballpark and giving the camera a thumbs up, Ken captioned the photo with a little more info. “The last time his team made it to the playoffs, this guy wasn’t born yet. He just started his sophomore year of college. Congrats @Mariners!” he wrote via Twitter.
What we do know about Dylan is that he bears a strong resemblance to his famous dad — aside from his noticeably longer hair. “He looks just like you,” one follower tweeted at the time, with another marveling at the resemblance. “Does the long hair prevent people from saying, ‘you look like that Jeopardy guy,’ or does he still have to put up with that anyway?” they quipped.
Caitlin Jennings
Catilin Jennings, now 16, has also been kept out of the spotlight. But in 2018 comments, he did say his family life was carefully planned — with a hilarious caveat. “The kids were planned,” he told LifeHacker. “(Well, the conceptions were planned. Everything since then has been a total free-for-all.) My career change has been the biggest surprise. I was a perfectly happy suburban dad and computer programmer back in 2004, the year I turned thirty. I was not expecting to win on Jeopardy! for six months straight and start a new career as a writer and professional know-it-all.”
Ken once opened up about how parenting has “changed over the years” as his children have grown closer to adulthood. “Parenting is always a moving target: you’re really just responding to the current needs of the kid, which might be different [needs] than six months ago,” he told Yahoo Life in 2021.
“So it’s a lot of listening, because the kid will tell you what you need — but it’s not going to be what you expect and it’s not what you remember you needing at their age.”
