Jamie Ding

Jamie Ding
Ding in 2026
Born (1992-05-01) May 1, 1992 (age 34)
Canberra, Australia
OccupationsGovernment employee, law student
Known for31-game winning streak on Jeopardy!

Jamie Ding (born May 1, 1992) is a New Jersey state government employee, law student and former game show contestant.

Ding won 31 consecutive games on Jeopardy! before he finally lost in April 2026 with $882,605 in winnings and the fifth-longest winning streak in the show's history.

He is known for wearing sweater outfits with orange, the school color of his alma mater, Princeton University.

On July 29, 2026, he and Ben Affleck became the fourth duo and the fifth celebrities overall to win the $1,000,000 top prize for their charity, Eastern Congo Initiative, and the eighteenth overall million-dollar winners on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire.

To date, Ding is the sixteenth highest-earning game show contestant of all time, having accumulated a total of $1,385,605 on his game show appearances.

Early life and education

Born in Canberra, Australia on May 1, 1992, Ding is the son of a neuroscience professor and a high school math teacher who are immigrants from China. He grew up in Grosse Pointe Shores, a suburb of Detroit, Michigan and graduated from Grosse Pointe North High School in 2009.

As a student, he competed in geography bees and on his high school quiz bowl team. He lost a sixth-grade spelling bee when he misspelled the word "bolero" as "ballero."

He graduated from Princeton in 2013 with a degree in molecular biology and worked on The Daily Princetonian in multimedia.

As of 2026, Ding has attended Seton Hall University School of Law, under a program in which classes are held every other weekend.

Career

Ding works as program administrator for the New Jersey Housing and Mortgage Finance Agency, where he helps administer tax credits to build affordable housing in the state.

He has been part of an effort seeking to block the U.S. Department of Justice from obtaining New Jersey's voter registration records.

Jeopardy!

Ding was not a regular Jeopardy! viewer until shortly before he started competing, though he had taken the Jeopardy! online qualification test several times despite not being a regular viewer. He was then asked to audition in November 2024, over Zoom, and was cast, which triggered an intense bout of studying.

In his third episode, he set a new record for the highest Coryat score in Jeopardy! history at $42,400. In his 20th episode, he tied the record held by Ken Jennings for the most correct responses in one game at 45. In his 32nd and final episode, he wrote a farewell note for his final Jeopardy! answer that read: "TTFN," short for "ta ta for now."

Personal life

Ding has stated that his favorite color is orange, his favorite letter is F and his favorite number is 6.

His hobbies include constructing cryptic crosswords; running an Instagram account rating General Tso's chicken with his sister, a lawyer named Jessie Ding; chasing eclipses; writing in italics; and driving around with his trivia friends looking for rare geese.

He lives in the census-designated place of Lawrenceville in Lawrence Township, Mercer County, New Jersey.

References

  1. 1 2 Gallagher, Jacob (April 28, 2026). "Jamie Ding's 'Jeopardy' Sweaters Made Him a Style Champion". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved May 18, 2026.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Holtermann, Callie (April 28, 2026). "A Humble 'Jeopardy!' Champ Ends His Run". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved May 18, 2026.
  3. ↑ Telling, Gillian (April 27, 2026). "Jeopardy! Champ Jamie Ding's 31-Game Winning Streak Comes to an End: Here's What He Says About Losing (Exclusive)". People.
  4. ↑ Prestininzi, Jenna (April 24, 2026). "Jamie Ding's sister reacts to metro Detroit native's 'Jeopardy!' run". Detroit Free Press.
  5. ↑ Ding, Jessie (May 1, 2026). "Let's end this eventful week with Jamie's birthday, shall we?". Instagram. Retrieved July 9, 2026.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  6. ↑ Telling, Gillian (April 23, 2026). "Jeopardy! Champ Jamie Ding Reveals How He'll Spend His Massive Winnings (Exclusive)". People.
  7. ↑ Bryan, Max. "Ken Jennings thought Jamie Ding would break his 'Jeopardy!' record". The Detroit News. Retrieved May 18, 2026.
  8. ↑ "Following 5th longest Jeopardy streak, Jamie Ding '13 returns focus to housing". The Princetonian. Retrieved May 18, 2026.
  9. ↑ Lee, Sabina. "Unlikely Weekend Warriors Jeopardy! Champ Jamie Ding and Alumna Lizz Lesso", Seton Hall University School of Law, April 10, 2026. Accessed May 19, 2026. "If you caught Jamie Ding ’27 on Jeopardy! recently, you may have noticed he’s good at juggling more than trivia questions. The reigning champion and Princeton graduate works full time for the State of New Jersey and, on alternating weekends, trades the buzzer for a casebook at Seton Hall University School of Law."
  10. ↑ Sims, Brittany (March 17, 2026). "'Jeopardy!' Contestant Smashes Ken Jennings' All-Time Record". tvinsider. Retrieved April 15, 2026.
  11. ↑ Blanchet, Brenton (April 10, 2026). "Jeopardy! Champion Continues Impressive Winning Streak as He Ties Longtime Record Held by Host Ken Jennings". people.com. Retrieved April 16, 2026.
  12. ↑ Sharf, Zack (April 29, 2026). "'Jeopardy!' Champ Jamie Ding Calls Out ICE After 31-Game Winning Streak Ends: 'The Government Is Going After Immigrants in a Way Unlike Anything We've Seen'". Variety. Retrieved May 18, 2026.
  13. ↑ Jurgensen, John (April 21, 2026). "The New King of 'Jeopardy!' Is the Nicest Champ Ever". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved May 18, 2026.