In an era of fleeting celebrity, “Jeopardy!” contestant Ken Jennings strung out his 15 minutes of fame for five months, 2,700 correct answers and more than $2.5 million in prize money.

Then he met up with Nancy Zerg. And before you could say “Anticlimactic endings for $100, Alex,” the clean-cut, Salt Lake City software designer who had become the winningest game show contestant in history had finally been outsmarted.