Ken Jennings Reveals His College Roommate Became a Bestselling Author

Long before either became household names, Ken Jennings revealed that he roomed with bestselling fantasy author Brandon Sanderson while attending Brigham Young University.

During an audience Q&A on the "Jeopardy!" set, shared on the show's Instagram page, Jennings, 52, was asked whether he might appear in the upcoming Apple TV adaptations of Sanderson's "Cosmere" universe, including "Mistborn" and "The Stormlight Archive."

"My college roommate is a fantasy author," Jennings told the crowd. "If you know that world, he is actually one of the biggest names in epic fantasy - Brandon Sanderson."

"At the time, Brandon was just working at the Best Western near our house," he recalled of the pair's time in college from 1996 to 2000. "He was the night-shift desk clerk, which I guess leaves you lots of time to write 1200-page novels with 78 characters in them."

He added that Sanderson, 50, returned home from work in the morning and "would just be standing in the kitchen reading us the next events of King, whatever Sir, whoever killing whatever dragon."

"I was like, ‘Well, at least I'm not the nerdiest guy in the apartment for a change," he teased. "That was very nice."

Jennings - who holds the longest winning streak on "Jeopardy!" - went on to discuss Sanderson's continued success, explaining that the Utah-based author "doesn't fly commercial anymore."

"That's how many books he's sold," he added. "So, I'm also the second most successful person in the apartment."

Jennings added a small clarification in the comment section of the post, saying, "Now I'm thinking it was a Motel 6, not a Best Western? Not sure," while fans reacted enthusiastically to the connection between the pair.

"The way I GASPED when you said he was a fantasy author, and my husband immediately yelled, ‘BRANDON SANDERSON?!' 🤯🤯🤯 As OG KJ and BS fans, this is insanely wild and makes us sooooo happy. How did we not know this before?!" one comment read.

"This makes more sense than it should, but it feels completely right. Ken said ‘fantasy' and my soul knew he was about to say Sanderson 😂," a fan shared while another added, "This is the most random lore drop of all time."

"Jeopardy!" airs daily. Check local listings.

2026 NEWSWEEK DIGITAL LLC.

This story was originally published June 2, 2026 at 11:33 AM.