Ben Affleck and Jeopardy! champion Jamie Ding scored the winning prize on the ABC television show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire on Wednesday. The pair earned $1 million for the nonprofit Eastern Congo Initiative.
Affleck and Ding clinched the win on a Thanksgiving trivia question.
The final question read, “In an annual Thanksgiving tradition, all but which of these have been the names of turkeys pardoned by a U.S. president?”
The four options the pair could choose from to answer the question were “Peanut Butter & Jelly,” “Tater & Tot,” “Mac & Cheese” and “Spaghetti & Meatball.”
Affleck and Ding selected the correct answer, “Spaghetti & Meatball.”
Lights flickered across the stage and confetti fell as Affleck and Ding celebrated the win with host Jimmy Kimmel, receiving an oversized $1 million check written out to Eastern Congo Initiative.
At the start of the round, which aired the previous week, Affleck shared why the Eastern Congo Initiative holds a special place in his heart.
“I’ve been working with them for about 15 years,” Affleck said of the nonprofit. “And right now, of course, as I’m sure most people know, there’s an Ebola crisis there, and so this is in large part designed to try to relieve that, contain the spread of Ebola.”
According to the Eastern Congo Initiative website, Affleck co-founded the charity with businesswoman Whitney Williams in 2010 to “elevate local solutions” in eastern Congo.
The group says its mission is to “transform humanitarian aid into a locally driven model by directly funding community-based organizations and advocating for greater international visibility for the region.”
“We support locally led organizations to expand access to essential services, strengthen economic opportunities, and promote justice,” the website states. “Our work is designed to create scalable, sustainable impact across eastern Congo.”
Affleck and Ding’s big win for charity comes one year after Affleck’s longtime friend and collaborator Matt Damon earned $1 million on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire alongside Jeopardy! star Ken Jennings, benefiting Damon and Gary White’s nonprofit, Water.org.
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