What We Know About Ken Jennings' Wife Mindy
Before Ken Jennings' "Jeopardy!" journey began, the software engineer had to come up with a game plan. Obviously, cramming as much knowledge about as many topics as he could into his cranium was crucial, and his wife, Mindy Jennings, helped him prepare as soon as he learned that he would be competing on the show in 2004.
Mindy was a preschool teacher, per BuzzFeed, so she was likely familiar with the method Ken used: flash cards. However, one of the topics she helped her husband study was not something toddlers are taught. As a teetotaler, Ken confessed that his knowledge of cocktails wasn't much better than a toddler's, but the Utah native noticed the answer category "Potent Potables" pops up often on "Jeopardy!" The avid viewer knew that brushing up on trivia about U.S. presidents was also a must, joking on his website, "That February, the only topics of conversation in our house were, for the most part, the presidency and cocktails, the presidency and cocktails, the presidency and cocktails. It was like going to college with George W. Bush."
The repetitiveness paid off; his record-breaking winning streak of 74 games made him a household name and helped him land a gig hosting the show. But when A.V. Club asked Ken which memorable life moment he would most like to relive, it was not any of his triumphs on the game show; he wants to experience his first date with Mindy all over again for a rather unromantic reason.
Ken Jennings thinks his wife didn't want to date him
Ken and Mindy Jennings met while they were both students at Brigham Young University and, from the way Ken tells it, Mindy's roommates had a high level of involvement in their courtship. According to BuzzFeed, Ken informed one of said roommates that he wanted to date Mindy months before he gathered up the courage to set his plan his motion. Mindy agreed to go on a date with him, though Ken believes she did so reluctantly.
"There's a difference in opinion in the way it went down. In my version, she really did not want to go out with me, and tried to get her roommates to talk me out of it," Ken told A.V. Club. He didn't share Mindy's version of events, but it sounds like he didn't try to sweep her off her feet with his intellect. Mindy was studying theater, and perhaps what drew her to Ken was that he was a showman of sorts; in another life, maybe Ken would've been a comedian. "He mostly wanted people to know he was funny," Mindy told BuzzFeed. "He's not the type of person who wants you to know he knows everything."
Mindy is far more private than Ken, though he occasionally offers some insight into what she's like. On Twitter, he revealed the sweet memento Mindy kept from their dating days: a Scrabble scoresheet proving that she beat him at least once in 2000.
Ken Jennings' gory Christmas gift for his wife
According to Deseret News, when he was attending college at BYU, Ken Jennings lived in the same housing complex as Brandon Sanderson, an author whose works include the final books in the "The Wheel of Time" fantasy series. On Twitter, Ken revealed that Sanderson had a small role to play in his romance with Mindy Jennings. "One of my first dates with my now-wife was a mythology-themed murder mystery party written by no less than ... Brandon Sanderson. It was strong early work from him!" he wrote.
Mindy and Ken decided they wanted to take on the wheel of time together and kept the good times rolling after college, tying the knot the fall after they both graduated from BYU in 2000, per Ken's website. They welcomed their son, Dylan, in 2002, and their daughter, Caitlin, was born four years later.
More than two decades after their murder mystery date, Ken and Mindy apparently still share their love of some good, gruesome fun. In 2022, Ken showed his Twitter followers his Christmas gift for his wife: a "The Banshees of Inisherin" Blu-ray and three fake severed fingers, which are relevant to the movie's plot. Mindy also still manages to impress Ken. "I couldn't remember the name of the 2 fake street gangs on The Shield just now and when I texted my wife she knew BOTH of them," he tweeted. "So she could maybe win 75+ Jeopardys is what I'm saying."