Benjamin Jeremy Stein blank">http://www.filmreference.com/film/41/Ben-Stein.html (born November 25, 1944) is an _American writer and commentator, Emmy Award-winning actor, comedian, and game show host. He was also formerly a lawyer, law professor, and White House speechwriter. In recent years he has become an outspoken advocate for the creationist intelligent design movement. He is the son of noted economist and writer Herbert Stein. IMDB: Ben Stein bio His sister, Rachel, is also a writer.

Win Ben Stein's Money was an American television game show that ran from July 28, 1997, to May 8, 2003, on the Comedy Central cable network. It featured three contestants who competed in a general knowledge quiz contest to win the grand prize of $5,000 from the show's host, Ben Stein. During some segments of the show, Stein would actually participate as a "common contestant" in order to defend his money from being taken by his competitors. The show, which won six Daytime Emmy awards, was notable for its combination of serious quiz questions with a playful, irreverent tone and often risqué humor.

As noted in a disclaimer during the closing credits, prize money won by contestants was actually paid from a prize budget furnished by the producers of the show. However, any money left over in the prize budget at the end of a season that had not been won by contestants would be given to Stein; thus contestants really were playing for what would otherwise eventually have become Ben Stein's money. (If the total amount paid out during a season exceeded the prize budget, the production company would pay the excess, so Stein was never at any risk of actually losing money out of pocket.) Stein was also paid a standard salary as host which was not affected by his game play, so he customarily donated his prize money to charity (not mentioned on the show).

Stein always had a co-host to exchange jokes with and to ask some of the questions in the game. Jimmy Kimmel was the co-host for the first three years of the show's run, but he left in 2000 (though he did make occasional guest appearances after that). Nancy Pimental replaced Kimmel and co-hosted the show through 2001. Kimmel's cousin, Sal Iacono, who took over the role in 2002, was the show's last co-host.

Jeopardy-like game show featuring Ben Stein as both a host and a contestant. The second and third rounds of the game are played by Ben Stein himself as he tries to defend "his" money against the lowly contestants. Written by Joe Pranevich

The anti-game show game show, "Win Ben Stein's Money" consists of humorous category names and banter between the hosts (Ben Stein and co-host Jimmy Kimmel from 1997-2001, Nancy Pimental 2001-2002 & Sal Iacoco in 2002) and contestants. It's the only game show where the host plays for part of his own paycheck. In the first round, three contestants answer questions of varying dollar amounts, with the one with the lowest amount being eliminated. The two remaining players go up against Ben Stein himself, as they again answer questions in round two. After that round, the contestant with more money faces Ben in the "Best of Ten Test of Knowledge," where each person is asked the same ten questions. The contestant keeps his/her money won in the first two rounds no matter what, but if they get the same number of questions correct as Ben, he/she win an extra $1000 for a tie. If he/she get more questions than Ben, they win all $5000 of his own money. Written by kicking222

Ben Stein (Benjamin J. Stein) was born on Nov. 25, 1944 in Washington, D.C. The son of noted economist and writer Herbert Stein, he grew up in Silver Spring, Md., and attended Montgomery Blair High School. Some of his classmates included journalist Carl Bernstein, and actors Goldie Hawn and Sylvester Stallone. He graduated from Columbia University in 1966 with honors in economics and as valedictorian of the 1970 Yale Law School class. He has worked as a poverty lawyer, a trial lawyer, a university adjunct (American University, University of California at Santa Cruz and Pepperdine University), a speech writer for Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford and a columnist for The Wall Street Journal, The Los Angeles Herald Examiner, King Features Syndicate, Los Angeles Magazine, New York Magazine, E! Online and The American Spectator. He also writes frequently for The Washington Post. Stein has written and published 16 books (seven novels, nine nonfiction books), the most recent of which is about life with his 12-year-old son, Tommy. He has been a longtime screenwriter and was one of the creators of the TV series Fernwood 2Night. He has acted and made guest appearances in numerous movies and TV series, appears in many TV commercials and is the host of two Comedy Central TV series, "Win Ben Stein's Money" (1997) (October, 1997-2002) and "Turn Ben Stein On" (1999). He is married to entertainment-industry attorney Alexandra Denman.