"The story kind of has its facts straight, so it would be plausible. It says he lost on his 75th show, and that it would air some time in October. That's on schedule and would mean six more weeks of shows. He's now at $1.3 million and if the rumor is true it would put him close to $2.5 million," Aretakis said, explaining that Jennings has been averaging about $30,000 per episode.
"If you extrapolate $30,000 per game for another 30 games, he's right around there," he said.
The amazing Ken Jennings with "Jeopardy!" host Alex Trebek. Jennings won his 42nd contest in the show aired last night. When does he fall?
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"But anybody who wants to spread a rumor could do that math," he added.
Yeah, right. Ahem . . .
One thing that bothers Aretakis: "Super-tipster Phillip" reported that during Jennings's final "Jeopardy!" taping, he got the two Daily Doubles in Double Jeopardy and he bet $4,000 each time, and lost both times.
According to Aretakis, Jennings usually does not bet a round number on the Daily Doubles, rather an amount that would take him up to a round number.
Aretakis also noted that since Jennings returned on Monday, he hasn't dominated the competition to the same degree as he did before. "Maybe he's gotten kind of rusty, but he missed all four Final Jeopardies this week."
"I think it's a measure of how great a contestant he is that we can't believe he missed a question."
By the way, that final Final Jeopardy question is, according to Kottke.org: "What is H&R Block?"
