Jennings: 'Best Man Won'

Maybe Ken Jennings isn't so tough after all.

The "Jeopardy!" brainiac met his match this week, losing a three-day tournament of champions from the game show and a $2 million prize to Brad Rutter of Lancaster, Pa.

Rutter picked up his winnings on The Early Show Thursday. Jennings appeared with him.

"I felt like I was playing pretty well," Jennings told Smith. "The problem is, I had never played Brad before. Unfortunately, he was quite better. It was amazing to watch. It was a great performance."

Jennings says he was satisfied with how he performed, despite losing, "just to see that I could hang in there with great players like Brad…and also, just as a viewer, as a fan, to be very satisfied that the best man won. That was fun to watch."

Rutter told Smith he looked forward to the tournament, "just to see how I would do. But, at the same time, I was kind of apprehensive because, obviously, Ken was amazing last year, but I didn't have anything to compare myself to him.

"I was coming in with the expectation there was every possibility that I might get killed, but I thought I would do pretty well."

Rutter pointed out that the timing of "clicking in" is "a big part of the game. Most of the time all three people know the answer. It's whoever can time it right."

"He's the quickest (clicker) I've ever played," Jennings volunteered. "Usually, I can adjust to get in before somebody, but I just could not be quick enough to beat Brad."When Smith gave Rutter his $2 million check, Rutter quipped that having a check for that much in his hands "feels like I'd better hire some security if I want to walk down the streets here in New York."

He added that, while there was some controversy about Jennings getting a "bye" into the finals, and a lot of people said he didn't deserve it, if anything was settled, it was that Ken clearly deserved to be there, and has to be mentioned among the top players of all time."

During the tournament, Rutter was hardly intimidated by Jennings' 74-game winning streak in the game show last year. He beat Jennings in all three individual games, and his final total of $62,000 easily eclipsed Jennings' $34,599.

Rutter, a former record store clerk, won more than $1 million on "Jeopardy!" in 2002, and whipped several other former champions to earn the right to face Jennings. He is host of his own local quiz show in Pennsylvania.

Knowing he was about to lose, Jennings wrote "Go Brad" as part of his final answer in the game televised Wednesday.

He had more to lose than a game. The defeat could bruise the Utah resident's mystique, especially since he is trying to turn his trivia prowess into a career — with his own board game, book and Comedy Central game show in the works.

With categories like Belgian and Asian history, Latin, poets and rocks, viewers watching the final game at home were hard-pressed to keep up.

Second place earned Jennings $500,000, part of the largest single-day payoff in TV game show history. Third-place finisher Jerome Vered earned $250,000.

"Jeopardy!" is produced by Sony Pictures Television, a Sony Pictures Entertainment Company. It is distributed domestically by King World Productions, Inc. and internationally by CBS Paramount International Television. King World, CBS Paramount and CBSNews.com share the same parent company, Viacom Inc.