‘Jeopardy!’ Contestant Brags He Beat Ken Jennings On TV Before

Ken Jennings had a contestant on Jeopardy! recently that it turned out he had met before. While Ken said he didn’t have a memory of it, John Liu was quick to remind Ken and tell the world how they knew each other. John had beaten Ken before on a televised quiz show, and he seemed pretty proud of it.

Here is what happened on the popular game show this week.

Jeopardy! Champ Reminds Ken Jennings Of Big Win

Ken Jennings was talking to the contestants on the Wednesday episode of Jeopardy! The champion hadn’t won much, though, as John Liu came in to defend his title with only $7,801 in winnings from what many fans felt was a very hard board the day before.
Ken Jennings – YouTube

Sadly for John, his winning streak ended after one win and he went home with a very small total of money. He was playing against  Jacqui Kaplan, a high school English teacher from Sandy Hook, Connecticut, and Joseph Carlstein, a graduate student from Chapel Hill, North Carolina.

When talking to John, Ken said, “This is not your first time on a game show, John, I did not recognize you, but I think we’ve met before.” John said that was true, and then he dropped the bombshell on Jennings, saying, “I’ve actually beaten you on TV before, Ken.”

Ken just said, “Wow,” while the audience laughed along. The game show was Best Ever Trivia Show and Ken was the “expert quizzer.” John said, “I made it to the final round, head to head against an expert. And you know, trivia is a game of skill and luck, and I got lucky enough to beat you in five questions.”

John Liu Loses On Jeopardy!

While he has his win over Ken Jennings to always remember, his time on Jeopardy! ended after just one small win and John has already gone home. He lost in the second game after more tough play.

After the Jeopardy! round, Liu trailed with $1,800, while Carlstein led with $5,600, and Kaplan had $2,800. In Double Jeopardy, Liu dropped $2000 on the second Daily Double. Going into Final Jeopardy!, Carlstein led with $10,000, Kaplan was in second with $8,000 and Liu held $7,000. It ended up closer than expected after the early game struggles.

Final Jeopardy! was the category “Artifacts.” The clue was, “Roughly, 180 of these were made & 50 remain; the man who created them was given a pension by the Archbishop of Mainz in 1465.”

John got it right, but so did Carlstein, who went on to win with $16,001.

What are your thoughts on John Liu’s two games on Jeopardy!? Did he seem like someone who could have beaten Ken Jennings in the past? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.