Ben Affleck has two Academy Awards, two BAFTAs, and three Golden Globes to his name. And now, with the help of Jeopardy! super champion Jamie Ding, he has just become the fifth celebrity ever to win the $1 million top prize on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire — and the 18th winner overall in the show’s history.
Affleck and Ding teamed up on the latest episode of Millionaire, where they played on behalf of the Eastern Congo Initiative, which is in dire need of funds amid the current Ebola crisis.
The duo breezed through early questions about the CDC’s sleep recommendations, a Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale, Formula 1’s red-carpet premiere, Hot Ones, and tango music. As the questions became more challenging, Affleck more than held his own, helping answer questions about the inspiration for the word “crater” in ancient Greece, Pope Leo’s Chicago White Sox fandom, and The Great Gatsby.
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Curiously, neither knew which McDonald’s sandwich is served with half a slice of cheese, despite Affleck’s well-documented fandom of the fast-food chain, and they relied on the audience lifeline for assistance. Meanwhile, Ding nailed a question about Billie Eilish’s “Therefore I Am,” despite being unfamiliar with the song.
Affleck single-handedly answered the $250,000 question about the Spanish festival El Colacho, while the two then put their heads together to deduce the correct answer to a $500,000 question asking what achievement occurred just two months after a New York Times article said it wouldn’t happen “for one million to ten million years.” Affleck hilariously credited his knowledge of the topic to a time when he looked up instances in which the press got things wrong.
For the million-dollar question, Affleck and Ding were asked, “In an annual Thanksgiving tradition, all but which of these have been the names of turkeys pardoned by a U.S. president?” At first, the pair were dumbfounded, until they realized that host Jimmy Kimmel, who remained one of their available lifelines, might know the answer.
“Actually, you might know this,” Affleck excitedly remarked. “This is the person who would actually be paying attention to every pardoned turkey. Probably the best person to ask.”
“You’re absolutely right. I do a bit about this on the show every year,” Kimmel acknowledged. While he didn’t know the answer for certain, he did lead them in the right direction, with Affleck and Ding correctly choosing Spaghetti & Meatball and sealing their win.
Full episodes of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire are streaming on Hulu.
Affleck joins friend and longtime collaborator Matt Damon as a million-dollar winner on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. Thanks to Jon Hamm, Larry David didn’t fare nearly as well during his recent appearance on the show.