“Jeopardy! ”Mastermind Ken Jennings Says He's Especially Skilled at This Specific Type of Trivia (Exclusive)
“Jeopardy! ”Mastermind Ken Jennings Says He's Especially Skilled at This Specific Type of Trivia (Exclusive)
Toria Sheffield, Scott HuverSat, May 9, 2026 at 12:30 PM UTC
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Ken Jennings attends the 2026 TCM Classic Film Festival's Opening Night Gala screening in April 2026.
Credit: Frazer Harrison/FilmMagic
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Ken Jennings revealed one of his strongest trivia categories
The Jeopardy! host caught up with PEOPLE exclusively at the opening night of the TCM Classic Film Festival on April 30
“I don't want to brag,” Jennings said before revealing the topic
Ken Jennings revealed a specific category of trivia where he especially shines.
The Jeopardy! host and former champion caught up with PEOPLE exclusively at the opening night of the TCM Classic Film Festival in Hollywood, Calif., on April 30. During the conversation, Jennings, 51, shared that he has a special knack for movies and cinema history.
“I don't want to brag. One of my stronger categories [is movies],” he told PEOPLE.
Alex Trebek (left) and Ken Jennings (right) on 'Jeopardy!' in 2004.
Credit: Jeopardy Productions via Getty
“My book was the Leonard Maltin Movie Guide, and I just wanted to see everything,” he continued, adding, “Luckily, my parents had a wall of VHS [tapes].”
“I grew up as a kid reading Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide as if it were … whatever other kids read, Harry Potter or Hardy Boys,” he explained, referring to the highly influential, annual collection of movie reviews first published in 1969.
As for the movie that first hooked him on cinema?
The trivia mastermind said it was the Alfred Hitchcock classic, Rear Window, starring Jimmy Stewart and Grace Kelly.
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The iconic film follows a man in wheelchair (Stewart), who suspects he may have witnessed a murder through the windows of the apartment complex across the street, prompting him to convince his love interest (Kelly) to help him investigate.
Ken Jennings attends the 2026 TCM Classic Film Festival's Opening Night Gala screening in April 2026.
Credit: Monica Schipper/Getty
“Rear Window meant so much to me as a kid because I was like, ‘They're doing this all in one set!' Everything's live, there's all these little storylines going on, but it works since you're so invested in this guy,” Jennings said.
“When he feels so helpless because Grace Kelly's [character is] about to get caught, it's just like a kind of suspense I'd never seen before,” he added.
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Jennings went on to say that he's especially fascinated by the mechanics of the filmmaking process.
“I love the behind-the-scenes part of movie making, and I think that's why old movies really appealed to me. Because it's very close to the surface with a lot of my favorite directors,” he explained.
on People
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
