Ben Affleck and “Jeopardy” fave Jamie Ding win “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire” — with help from Jimmy Kimmel
Key Points
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Ben Affleck and Jeopardy alum Jamie Ding competed on the latest episode of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire.
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Host Jimmy Kimmel helped advise the duo on their final answer.
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Affleck and Ding won $1 million for the former’s nonprofit Eastern Congo Initiative.
Ben Affleck and a Jeopardy alum are putting their wicked smarts to good use.
The Argo star and Jamie Ding, who won 31 consecutive eps of of the game show earlier this year, teamed up to compete on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire to raise money for Affleck’s charity Eastern Congo Initiative — and won the full $1 million prize at the conclusion of their time on the show.
The nail-biter final question on Wednesday’s episode read: “In an annual Thanksgiving tradition, all but which of these have been the names of turkeys pardoned by a U.S. president?”
The four options were: “Peanut Butter & Jelly,” “Tater & Tot,” “Mac & Cheese,” and “Spaghetti & Meatball.”
Affleck and Ding first used the Ask-the-Host lifeline to pick the brain of host Jimmy Kimmel. The late-night host wasn’t particularly confident in his answer, but favored Spaghetti & Meatball as his best guess.
The duo then used their Phone-A-Friend lifeline to call Ding’s longtime trivia teammate Stephen Morrison, whom the Jeopardy alum introduced by trolling Kimmel with a reference to his arch-nemesis (and Affleck’s BFF) Matt Damon.

“Jimmy, you might like this friend of mine, ‘cause, I mean, [he’s] Harvard-educated, [a] father, we’re two years apart but we’ve been through a lot of trials and tribulations together — just like Ben and Matt!” Ding said.
“Are you looking for trouble?” Kimmel responded.
“Are you looking for trouble?” Ding shot back.
“I’m not looking for any trouble, man,” Kimmel said. “I just want you guys to win.”
Morrison picked up the phone, but didn’t have a guess to provide. “Anything I give you is gonna be a wild guess,” he said. “This is one that would have to jump out to me, and I haven’t retained enough Turkey Pardon days.”
After Morrison failed to meaningfully contribute to the conversation, Kimmel joked, “He is like Matt!”
He then added, “But listen, you know what? He’s smart, because if you don’t know it, you don’t know it, right?”
Affleck opted to defer to Kimmel’s instincts. “I really think that we got lucky with the best, like the world’s expert on precisely this kind of story,” the Batman v. Superman star said.
“Me? Oh, Christ, you’re gonna put this on me,” Kimmel said.
“I dunno, man,” Affleck told Ding. “I don’t know how you feel, but I would bet on Jimmy. I would go for it.”
Ding then locked in Kimmel’s preferred answer, Spaghetti & Meatball.
“I have such a stomachache right now,” Kimmel said before delivering the good news.
“Jamie, Ben, you just won $1 million for the Eastern Congo Initiative!” he exclaimed.
Affleck founded the Eastern Congo Initiative in 2010 alongside Whitney Williams. The nonprofit provides grants for development and community-building initiatives in the Democratic Republic of Congo.