Jeopardy! Legend Ken Jennings To Host Televised Quiz Bowl Championship

Jeopardy! Legend Ken Jennings To Host Televised Quiz Bowl Championship

Face Off Minnesota Will Showcase Academic Excellence of the State's High School Students

Airs Sundays, May 14-28, at 6 p.m. on tpt 2 and Mondays, May 15-29, at 7 p.m. on tpt 17

ST. PAUL, Minn., April 3 /PRNewswire/ -- Ken Jennings, the Jeopardy! superstar who set a record by winning 74 straight games -- and more than $2.5 million -- on the TV quiz show in 2004, has agreed to serve as the emcee for the Minnesota High School Quiz Bowl Championship, which will be televised on tpt in May.

This will be Jennings' first stint as a television host, though he has years of experience with quiz bowl tournaments. "I've been a big fan for a long time," he says, having competed in high school and on Brigham Young University's nationally ranked quiz bowl teams. Jennings later worked as an editor for a quiz bowl organization, writing questions for competitions, and moderated several national championships. "I noticed on Jeopardy! just how many answers I got right were things that I had either first learned or had my memory refreshed on in a quiz bowl game," Jennings says.

As the host of Face Off Minnesota: The High School Quiz Bowl Championship, Jennings will emcee a showdown among many of the state's smartest students. For the first time, two major quiz bowl organizations -- National Academic Quiz Tournaments and Minnesota High School Quiz Bowl -- are joining forces to create a Super Bowl of quiz competitions. Following regional tournaments, 16 teams will meet at tpt's studios for head-to-head contests. Viewers will see the final eight teams battle on television, beginning May 14 and culminating in a final 90-minute special on Sunday, May 28. In each round, two teams of students will compete to answer a barrage of questions from Jennings on a wide range of topics, from academic subjects such as math, history, and fine arts to more general-knowledge categories such as sports and current events.

With so much emphasis today on the need for more academic rigor in schools, tpt and several local partners are creating this the televised contest to celebrate the intellectual achievements of Minnesota students. In addition to the two participating quiz organizations, the event will be sponsored by Taco Bell and Pizza Hut (visit http://www.pizzahut.com/ for more information), with promotional support from the Star Tribune.

Jennings, too, hopes the shows will bring more attention to an intellectual sport he has grown to love. As a host, he says, "I'd like to try to communicate what I love about quiz bowls to a wider audience. There's something exciting about watching these incredibly gifted players perform these amazing feats of memory and intelligence."

Since Jennings captivated America with his own amazing feats two years ago, the former software engineer has parlayed his Jeopardy! notoriety into something of a cottage industry. He has written a book on America's love affair with trivia, Brainiac, which is due out in September; he is developing his own TV game show, called, Ken Jennings vs. the Rest of the World; and he is a frequent speaker at corporate events and on college campuses.

For more information go to: http://www.pizzahutmn.com/ .

Face Off Minnesota: The High School Quiz Bowl Championship
tpt 2: Sundays, May 14-28, 6pm and tpt 17: Mondays, May 15-29, 7pm

Source: Twin Cities Public Television (TPT)

CONTACT: Brendan Henehan, Producer, +1-651-229-1379, bhenehan@tpt.org,
Matthew Smith, Public and Media Relations, +1-651-229-1346, mattsmith@tpt.org,
both of Twin Cities Public Television

Web site: http://www.pizzahutmn.com/
http://www.pizzahut.com/

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