Ben Affleck was overcome with glee the moment he won “Who Wants To Be a Millionaire,” jumping up to hug his partner, “Jeopardy!” champion Jamie Ding. Affleck and Ding made it to the final round on Wednesday’s episode of the ABC game show, hosted by Jimmy Kimmel, where they faced a question about turkeys pardoned by U.S. presidents.
The duo had to deduce which names did not belong to pardoned turkeys. “So we’re gonna say D, Spaghtetti and Meatball?” Ding said after deliberations. It took a beat before the answer was revealed, leaving Affleck and Ding looking stressed about their choice.
But the chime indicating they chose correctly rang out and both men jumped to their feet for an excited hug. The two men were playing for charity. Their prize winnings will be donated to the Eastern Congo Initiative, a nonprofit co-founded by Affleck in 2010 to support Congolese communities.
Affleck spoke on the game show about how he has spent the last 15 years working with the organization. “And right now, of course, as I’m sure most people know, there’s an Ebola crisis there,” Affleck said. “And so this is in large part designed to try to relieve that, contain the spread of Ebola.” The Oscar-winning actor, director and writer was lucky to have Ding as a partner, as the former “Jeopardy!” contestant had a historic run on that trivia show.
Ding managed a 31-game streak, landing fifth on the list of all-time “Jeopardy!” winners. Current host Ken Jennings still holds the top spot with 74 consecutive wins. It’s unclear when “Who Wants To Be a Millionaire” was filmed, but Affleck’s win was aired a year after his best friend, Matt Damon, appeared on the show .
The “Good Will Hunting” co-writer won $1 million for his own charity, Water.org, after being paired up with Jennings. Affleck’s episode also aired a week after news broke that his mother died following a pancreatic cancer diagnosis. Christopher Affleck, or Chris, died on June 2, but her obituary appeared in The Boston Globe last week .
It said that her greatest wish was to see her grandson’s high school graduation, which she attended two days before her death. I am a senior breaking news reporter for NBC News Digital, covering a range of news-of-the-day topics. My job is to report in a timely manner on crime, mass shootings, war coverage, domestic and international affairs, pop culture and more.
