Ben Affleck is officially a millionaire at least on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire.
The two-time Oscar winner and 31-game Jeopardy! champion Jamie Ding won the show’s $1 million grand prize after surviving a final question about an unexpectedly difficult subject, the names of turkeys pardoned by U.S. presidents.
The money will benefit the Eastern Congo Initiative, the nonprofit Affleck co-founded to support Congolese-led organizations and communities affected by conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Affleck and Ding Entered the Episode With Two Questions Left
Affleck and Ding’s game began during the previous episode and resumed with the pair sitting at $250,000 with three lifelines still available. The $500,000 question asked, “What achievement occurred just two months after a New York Times article said it wouldn’t happen for ‘1 million to 10 million years’?”
The possible answers were splitting the atom, cloning a mammal, the first airplane flight and the polio vaccine. Ding immediately leaned toward the first airplane flight, and Affleck remembered reading about the newspaper’s famously inaccurate prediction before the Wright brothers’ successful flight in 1903.
They nevertheless used the 50:50 lifeline, which removed cloning a mammal and the polio vaccine. The remaining choices were splitting the atom and the first airplane flight. Affleck and Ding stayed with their original instinct and advanced to the $1 million question.
The Final Question Came Down to Presidential Turkeys
The final question asked, “In an annual Thanksgiving tradition, all but which of these have been the names of turkeys pardoned by a U.S. president?” The four possible answers were Peanut Butter & Jelly, Tater & Tot, Mac & Cheese and Spaghetti & Meatball.
None of the names immediately gave Affleck or Ding enough confidence to risk the $1 million prize, so they turned to host Jimmy Kimmel through the Ask the Host lifeline. Kimmel favored Spaghetti & Meatball, reasoning that he would probably remember the names if they had appeared in a presidential turkey-pardon story.
The contestants then used their final lifeline to call Ding’s longtime trivia teammate, Stephen Morrison. Morrison admitted that anything he offered would be a “wild guess” and said he had not retained enough information from past presidential turkey pardons to identify the answer.
Affleck Trusted Jimmy Kimmel’s Instinct
With the Phone-a-Friend call providing no new direction, Affleck returned to Kimmel’s suggestion. “I really think that we got lucky with the best, like the world’s expert on precisely this kind of story,” Affleck said.
Kimmel became visibly nervous as Affleck placed responsibility for the decision on him. “Me? Oh, Christ, you’re gonna put this on me,” the host replied. Affleck told Ding that he would trust Kimmel, and Ding locked in Spaghetti & Meatball as their final answer.
The choice was correct. Peanut Butter and Jelly were pardoned by President Joe Biden in 2021, Tater and Tot by President Barack Obama in 2016, and Mac and Cheese by President Obama in 2014. “Jamie, Ben, you just won $1 million for the Eastern Congo Initiative!” Kimmel announced as confetti covered the studio.
The Prize Will Support Affleck’s Eastern Congo Initiative
Affleck co-founded the Eastern Congo Initiative with Whitney Williams in 2010. The organization works with Congolese-led groups while promoting peace, resilience and economic opportunity across eastern Congo, a region affected by prolonged armed conflict and displacement.
Affleck explained during the episode that the nonprofit supports community-based organizations working directly with people in the region. The celebrity version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire awards contestants’ winnings to their chosen charities, meaning the $1 million was secured for the Eastern Congo Initiative.
Affleck Now Shares the Milestone With Matt Damon
View this post on Instagram
The victory gave Kimmel another opportunity to invoke Affleck’s longtime friend and frequent target of his jokes, Matt Damon. Damon and Jeopardy! host Ken Jennings won $1 million for Water.org on the show in 2025. Their final question asked for the word describing the sound of leaves rustling in the wind, with “susurrus” proving to be the correct answer.
Affleck and Damon now belong to a small group of celebrities who have claimed the top prize during Kimmel’s version of the show. Other million-dollar winners include chef David Chang, Ike and Alan Barinholtz, and The Office costars Oscar Nuñez and Kate Flannery.