ECONOMY & WORK
MONEY 101
NEWS
PERSONAL FINANCE
NET WORTH
About Us Contact Us Privacy Policy Terms of Use DMCA Opt-out of personalized ads
© Copyright 2023 Market Realist. Market Realist is a registered trademark. All Rights Reserved. People may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice.
MARKETREALIST.COM / ECONOMY & WORK

Ken Jennings reveals whether 'Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?' was harder to win or 'Jeopardy'

Jennings recently won a million dollars on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire with Matt Damon.
PUBLISHED AUG 16, 2025
Ken Jennings at the ABC Television's Winter Press Tour (Cover image source: Getty Images | Photo by Rodin Eckenroth)
Ken Jennings at the ABC Television's Winter Press Tour (Cover image source: Getty Images | Photo by Rodin Eckenroth)

"Jeopardy!" host Ken Jennings has not just been a phenomenal contestant on his show before, but he has added another feather to his cap by winning on "Who Wants to Be A Millionaire." Alongside Matt Damon, he ended up winning the million bucks for Damon’s charity, Water.org. After the show was over, Jennings was asked which game show was harder to win.

The host impressed again with a diplomatic answer, stating that there were elements of gameplay in both that were tougher than the other. “Jeopardy!” covers a lot of topics, but one can choose to avoid a topic that they are not comfortable with, while that is not the case with “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire.”

Screenshot showing Ken Jennings on
Screenshot showing Ken Jennings on "Jeopardy!" (Image credit: YouTube | Jeopardy!)

“I guess you could say that we won the million, so clearly, it’s not a Jeopardy!-like crucible, and that’s true. Jeopardy! probably, objectively, has a lot of things that are harder about it, but the thing about Millionaire is that it’s like you have to swing at every pitch. You cannot let a ball go by and say, ‘That’s not my pitch.’ You can’t miss a question. And you always are so aware of that. It’s like you’re teetering over an Indiana Jones death pit, because the next question could be it at any point,” he said, according to a TV Insider report.



 

Thankfully, Jennings had a good teammate in Damon, who was no slouch. The pair easily cleared a lot of the questions in the beginning. The trouble came in the $500,000 question and the $1 million question. But by that time, they had not used a single lifeline and could get all the help they needed to win the money. That is exactly what they did. Another interesting dynamic that Jennings commented on after the show was that of Damon and host Jimmy Kimmel.

The two have had an on-screen rivalry of sorts for many years now, and it seeps into whatever programming they have been a part of together. Even on “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire,” that rivalry was evident. Jennings claimed to have loved it. “I’d seen them do that on TV so many times, and loved it, but for some reason, I had forgotten it was just gonna go on in person while I was trying to win on a game show,” he said.

“So I tried to get 15 questions right, and I’m very worried and stressed about this. And then these two are doing a Friar Club roast, which was great. It actually ended up kind of taking off the pressure, because I started really enjoying seeing it up close. They’re both super funny.” Ultimately, they all had fun, and it was a good watch for fans as well.


 
 
 
 
 
View this post on Instagram
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

A post shared by Who Wants To Be A Millionaire (@millionairetv)


 

More on Market Realist:

'Jeopardy' host Ken Jennings reveals his early career plans — just before he became the show's host

'Jeopardy!' host Ken Jennings finally addresses the hardest part about his job: 'They make you...'

'Jeopardy' fans could witness changes in the new season that they might not be happy about

RELATED TOPICS JEOPARDY
MORE ON MARKET REALIST
This will make the members happy as the items in question are the store's staples.
3 hours ago
Turns out that even after all these years, the 51-year-old is being paid by Fox.
3 hours ago
High building prices and mortgage rates have dissuaded people from buying new homes.
3 hours ago
Ahead of the holiday season, this is not the news that these people would have wanted to hear.
17 hours ago
Steve Harvey could not hide his shock at the answer and made his feelings known to the contestant.
1 day ago
Milan Singh sparked an interesting debate over what is the actual value of a $100k salary in 2025.
1 day ago
Harvey then said that making people do that was one of his goals as a professional.
1 day ago
The director of the National Economic Council said firms are hesitating to hire fresh graduates.
1 day ago
Viewers called her actions at the store disrespectful and Costco employees agreed.
1 day ago
Ahead of the holiday season, the company will want to minimize its losses as much as possible.
1 day ago
With organizations gearing up for AI disruptions, a lot is going to change for workers.
1 day ago
Both the Treasury Secretary and Economic Council director claimed that prices will ease in months.
2 days ago
Turns out that the vegetable does not take long to get back, and the stores might not replace on time.
2 days ago
Farley's comments are reflective of those of the President's from a recent interview.
2 days ago
The companies that were linked to the recalled products were Food To Live and Africa Imports.
4 days ago
This is perhaps the biggest incentive shoppers have received this year to become a member.
4 days ago
The tariffs on beef-exporting countries and resources have put pressure on the U.S. supply chain
5 days ago
The deals were struck with four countries, which will exempt certain essential items from tariffs.
5 days ago
They blamed it on the Democrats because they were responsible for the shutdown.
5 days ago