Ben Affleck says people are ‘slightly baffled’ by his intelligence after $1M win

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Ben Affleck is reflecting on the amused and surprised reactions he received after winning the top prize on 'Who Wants to Be a Millionaire' with 'Jeopardy!' champion Jamie Ding.

The 'Animals' star discussed the experience during a recent appearance on GQ’s “One More Question.” Affleck said the messages he received afterward carried an underlying tone of “slight bafflement” over how he managed to answer the questions.

Ben Affleck reflects on $1 million win

Affleck reacted to the final question by saying, “You must be kidding me,” before suggesting they use their Phone-A-Friend lifeline. When Kimmel reminded them about the Ask-the-Host lifeline, Affleck joked about calling Ding’s friend instead.

When Ding’s friend could not answer in time, Affleck said Kimmel was good with cooking, food and current events and might know the answer. Affleck described Kimmel as “the world’s expert on precisely this kind of story” and said he would bet on him.

They ultimately locked in Spaghetti and Meatball and won the $1 million prize. Affleck and Ding jumped up and down and held each other as confetti fell around them.

Reflecting on the victory afterward, Affleck said the texts he received were marked by “slight bafflement,” with people essentially asking how he managed to do it. He also noted that he “didn’t graduate from college and didn’t go to fancy schools.”

Affleck’s comments came after an extensive discussion with GQ’s Zach Baron about artificial intelligence and his filmmaking startup, which was recently acquired by Netflix. His comments also followed a discussion of his long history with Matt Damon, with whom he co-wrote the 1997 award-winning film 'Good Will Hunting.'

Damon previously said the screenplay took them a long time to complete while they were unemployed and broke.

Affleck recalled that their early drafts were vastly different from the finished film and included a brilliant young man whose government wanted to recruit him, along with a more comedic sensibility inspired by 'Beverly Hills Cop' and 'Midnight Run.'

Ben Affleck and Jamie Ding’s final question

Affleck and Ding won $1 million after correctly answering the 15th and final question on the ABC game show. The question asked which achievement occurred just two months after a New York Times article said it would not happen for “1 million to 10 million years.”

The choices were splitting the atom, cloning a mammal, the first airplane flight, or the polio vaccine. Ding immediately thought the answer was the first airplane flight, and Affleck agreed.

Affleck said he vaguely remembered information about the Times, the Wright brothers and the year 1903 because he had once spent time looking up examples of times when the press got things wrong.

The pair used their 50:50 lifeline, leaving splitting the atom and the first airplane flight.

Affleck joked that if the answer was not C, it had to be A. Ding said he still felt better about the first airplane flight because people dream of flying, while they do not go outside and dream about splitting the atom.

Affleck ultimately trusted Ding. “My man, I came here with you,” he told him. “Take us. I’m with you. If that’s how you feel, let’s do it.” Host Jimmy Kimmel then revealed that 1903 was indeed the year the Wright brothers flew an airplane.

The final question asked which of four names had not been used for a turkey pardoned by a US president as part of the annual Thanksgiving tradition. The choices were Peanut Butter & Jelly, Tater & Tot, Mac & Cheese, and Spaghetti & Meatball.