{"id":21735,"date":"2026-07-30T06:24:36","date_gmt":"2026-07-30T01:24:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=21735"},"modified":"2026-07-30T06:24:36","modified_gmt":"2026-07-30T01:24:36","slug":"ben-affleck-wins-1-million-prize-on-who-wants-to-be-a-millionaire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=21735","title":{"rendered":"Ben Affleck Wins $1 Million Prize on &#8216;Who Wants to Be a Millionaire&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\t<strong>SPOILER ALERT: <\/strong><em>This story contains spoilers for Season 5, Episode 2 of \u201cWho Wants to Be a Millionaire,\u201d which aired on ABC at 8 p.m. ET.<\/em><\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\t<a href=\"https:\/\/variety.com\/t\/ben-affleck\/\" id=\"auto-tag_ben-affleck\" data-tag=\"ben-affleck\">Ben Affleck<\/a> has joined the pantheon of celebrity winners of \u201cWho Wants to Be a Millionaire,\u201d taking home the top prize with a little (or a lot) of help from \u201cJeopardy!\u201d champion Jamie Ding.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tAffleck conquered the $1 million question almost exactly one year after his \u201cGood Will Hunting\u201d co-star and best bud Matt Damon did the same. Damon was similarly paired with a \u201cJeopardy!\u201d wiz \u2014 current host Ken Jennings \u2014 who helped him reach the top prize for charity.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tThe money from Affleck and Ding\u2019s victory will go toward Affleck\u2019s Eastern Congo Initiative, the first U.S.-based advocacy and grant-making organization dedicated to supporting the people living in the African region.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tIn the final question, Affleck and Ding had to guess which turkeys were not pardoned by a U.S. president: A) Peanut Butter &amp; Jelly; B) Tater &amp; Tot; C) Mac &amp; Cheese; D) Spaghetti &amp; Meatball. Not knowing the answer, the contestants used their lifeline to ask host Jimmy Kimmel. While Kimmel said he was not 100% sure, he guessed the answer as Spaghetti &amp; Meatball. Affleck and Ding then used another lifeline to phone a friend, which was Ding\u2019s longtime trivia partner Stephen Morrison. Morrison did not know the answer either and declined to guess, which led Affleck to suggest they should go with Kimmel\u2019s guess. \u201cI would bet on Jimmy,\u201d he said. \u201cI would go for it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tAs Ding locked in the answer, with $1 million for charity on the line, Kimmel said, \u201cI have such a stomach ache right now.\u201d After a long moment of suspense, the show revealed Spaghetti &amp; Meatball to be the correct answer. As confetti rained down on the studio, Affleck and Ding jumped for joy and hugged, with genuinely shocked looks painted on their faces.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tAffleck and Ding are the fifth winners of \u201cWho Wants to Be a Millionaire\u201d during Kimmel\u2019s tenure, which began in April 2020. David Chang became the first winner of the show\u2019s new iteration in November 2020, followed by celebrity pairs Ike and Alan Barinholtz in August 2024, Damon and Jennings in July 2025 and \u201cThe Office\u201d stars Oscar Nu\u00f1ez and Kate Flannery in September 2025.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tIn July, Kimmel told <em>Variety<\/em> of the Affleck-Ding duo, \u201cI\u2019m not sure Ben knew that he was paired with a champion when he agreed to do the show. But when I told him, he seemed surprised and delighted. I think he was prepared to do it on his own. He\u2019s very smart, that Ben Affleck.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tWatch the moment Affleck and Ding won the $1 million below.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube\">\n<p>\n<span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Ben Affleck and Jamie Ding&amp;apos;s Winning Moment | Who Wants To Be A Millionaire\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/5qkeH_VY0Fk?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/span>\n<\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>SPOILER ALERT: This story contains spoilers for Season 5, Episode 2 of \u201cWho Wants to Be a Millionaire,\u201d which aired on ABC at 8 p.m. ET. Ben Affleck has joined the pantheon of celebrity winners of \u201cWho Wants to Be a Millionaire,\u201d taking home the top prize with a little (or a lot) of help&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":21736,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/variety.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/182396_0988-e1785356827317.jpg?crop=354px%2C0px%2C3674px%2C2063px&resize=1000%2C563","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21735","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pics-news"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21735","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=21735"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21735\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/21736"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=21735"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=21735"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=21735"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}