Ken Jennings Opens Up About His College Days as Roommates with Brandon Sanderson

Ken Jennings has shared an intriguing chapter from his college years: he was roommates with one of today's most prolific fantasy authors.

During an on-set Q&A for Jeopardy!, the game show host disclosed that he and Brandon Sanderson lived together while attending Brigham Young University in Utah during the 1990s. The conversation was later posted across Jeopardy!'s social media channels.

At the time they roomed together, Sanderson was grinding through night shifts as a desk clerk at a Best Western hotel near their residence. Despite the demanding schedule, he channeled his downtime into writing massive fantasy epics.

"Brandon was just working at the Best Western near our house. He was the night shift desk clerk, which I guess leaves you lots of time to write 1,200-page novels with, you know, 78 characters in them," Jennings explained.

The 52-year-old host found humor in the arrangement, joking that having Sanderson around took the pressure off him to be the most dedicated nerd in their shared space.

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

Sanderson has since become a heavyweight in the publishing world, with over 50 million books sold globally. Jennings acknowledged his former roommate's remarkable trajectory, noting the lucrative deals that have followed his success.

"But no, he turned out extremely talented. And yeah, big Apple TV deal. He's done very well," Jennings remarked, adding that Sanderson's level of commercial success has apparently afforded him the luxury of private aviation rather than commercial flights.

"That's how many books that guy has sold. So I'm also the second most successful person in the apartment," Jennings quipped.

In January, Apple TV secured the rights to develop Sanderson's Cosmere universe—encompassing his Mistborn and The Stormlight Archive series—into film and television projects.