‘Jeopardy!’ Contestant Reveals She Got Death Threats After Beating Ken Jennings

Sony/Jeopardy!

When you defeat a 74-game Jeopardy! champion, you’re expecting cheers and a pat on the back. However, Nancy Zerg received death threats for six months after winning her game against Ken Jennings.

Zerg, now 69, has revealed in a new interview how her life was made hell after her shocking victory over the show’s greatest ever player, more than 20 years ago.

She beat Jennings on November 30, 2004, when he incorrectly answered the Final Jeopardy questions. “Most of this firm’s 70,000 seasonal white-collar employees work only four months a year” was the clue. The correct response was “What is H & R Block?” which Zerg answered correctly. However, Jennings put “What is FedEx?” His wager was enough to move him to second place, therefore ending his streak.

The game show contestant shared that she was intimidated at first to go up against Jennings. “I had two weeks of knowing I’m going to have to face Ken Jennings, she told The Daily Mail. “It was pretty intimidating. So I started just gearing up, and mentally, I’m not going to lose unless I actually lose. I’m going to think like a winner. I’m going to try and be positive.”

Jennings did, however, take home over $2.5 million and became one of the greatest Jeopardy! players of all time. But Zerg’s reign didn’t last long as she lost her second game, leaving her with a total of $14,401. The death threats and mean messages kept coming though.

Speaking on the 21st anniversary of her historic win, Zerg shared that despite taking down a giant, the reception she received was not very positive. She described the months of hate as “very disturbing.”

“And then suddenly I was surrounded by all the other contestants who were going, ‘We can win now.’ It was like this. Everybody was going crazy, and everything was wild. And I just didn’t have a chance to wrap my head around what had been going on. And then suddenly, boom, we were back out taping the next episode, and I really bungled it because I could not concentrate,” she told the outlet. “I was completely at sea. It was a strange experience.”

The six months after that were hell for her, as she received death threats, cold calls, and couldn’t go anywhere without being recognized. “‘I remember one time I was at Target with my daughter [Maddie, now 28]. She had money for her birthday that she wanted to spend, and I was getting obscene phone calls, and it was disturbing,” Zerg said. “It was very disturbing. I had people threatening, and it was odd.”

Zerg had to eventually get a new phone and phone number to “block out” the haters. She also claimed that people were paying to get her phone number, which she deemed “creepy.”

“I could understand people who really loved seeing Ken and who were really upset that he’d lost,’ Zerg told The Daily Mail. “But some of them were a little past the point of rational thought.”

However, despite the hate, Zerg received a lot of support from her family, friends, and the local people in her town.

But, in 2025, the noise has quieted down. Sometimes a person will come up to her and ask her if she is the woman who defeated Ken Jennings, but she said the defeat hasn’t “impacted her life to a huge degree.”

“I mean, it’s kind of like I have this whole life, and that was a very small portion of it… But every now and then this rears its head, and then suddenly I’m kind of in the spotlight for a short while, and then suddenly it goes away,” Zerg shared.

Her move from California to Washington in 2014 helped with the constant attention. She finalized her divorce from her husband, Jeffrey, in 2015, and started a new life there. Zerg’s life now consists of working part-time after retiring as a real estate agent, watching Jeopardy!, and traveling.

Despite gaining media attention, Zerg doesn’t think that she will ever return to the Jeopardy! stage. She has never been invited back for tournaments and claims she “isn’t as quick-witted” as she was 21 years ago.

But a reunion with Jennings might happen in the near future since they both live in the same state. Ken Jennings flies to California to film episodes of Jeopardy!, but primarily spends his time in Seattle with his family. Zerg told the outlet that they have remained in touch since his defeat.

He was “incredibly sweet and gracious” after his loss. “‘He’s a great guy. He’s kind, and he’s funny, and he has a wicked sense of humor, and he’s so smart. His wife [Mindy] is lovely. He has a great family. He’s a really nice guy,” she said.

Jeopardy!, weekdays, check local listings, stream next day on Hulu and Peacock