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OK, I'm hooked. More than a month ago, flipping through the TV channels I saw a nerdy-looking guy win that night's "Jeopardy" game. Couple of weeks later, I noticed Ken still playing. Last night, I stopped at Channel 7 again and saw Ken run his winnings to $868,960, easily vanquishing Leonard Koss of Santa Monica and Oliver Mellet of Marina Del Rey for his 27th victory. Ken is Ken Jennings, a 30-year-old software engineer from Utah who plans to tithe 10% to the Mormon church. He wins impressively every time I see him, but he bets conservatively or else could have amassed at least 100 grand more. On one show, at the first break, host Alex Trebek confessed he had nothing left to ask Ken — who has gotten and almost outgrown one haircut already — about his personal life. It was all filmed months ago at Sony in Culver City, so some people may know the outcome, but I'm tuning in to see who could ever beat this guy.
* $920,960: Ken won again Friday, and he guests on Letterman on Monday, but his hometown Salt Lake City Tribune got a little carried away. The lede of their story today: "Could [Jennings] be approaching Paris Hilton-like celebrity?" Um, no. Saturday, 10 a.m.