I'll Take Ken Jennings' World for $400

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APRIL. "I don't mind," Alex Trebek tells E! "Ken and I are good friends." Ken's margins of victory narrow. Barely holds his own against two Caltech mathematicians, but his elegant proof of Von Stumpfnagel's theorem gives him a thrilling come-from-behind victory when both profs neglect to carry the 2. Page Six reports that Nicole Richie agreed to a quickie marriage with Charlie Rose in an effort to get Paris to come back to the show. Ratings ebb.

MAY. Ken continues to win but is forced to work at it. Longtime Jeopardy! watchers suspect that Ken's challengers are not so randomly chosen anymore. In the closest game in Ken's run, Ken barely edges Bob and Judy, a middle-aged couple from Milwaukee, Wis., who perform strongly in such categories as Bob and Judy's Children, Bob and Judy's Finances, The Little Things Bob and/or Judy Do That Really Annoy Bob and/or Judy, and Who Are These People in the Pictures in Bob and Judy's Photo Albums? Ken still wins. Ratings slide.

JUNE. After a week of special Jeopardy! challenge programs in which Ken on successive days defeats the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, the European Parliament, the faculty of Beijing University (the first Jeopardy! game played entirely in Chinese) and the Council on Foreign Relations, Ken's amazing run comes to a close as security agents from Microsoft apprehend Ken in a parking lot and whisk him back to company headquarters in Redmond, Wash. "He was something a couple of the guys were messing around with and kind of forgot about," a company spokesman said. "He wasn't supposed to be out yet."