Matt Amodio was on Jeopardy, Saturday, in a replay.
Amy Schneider Wins 39th Straight ‘Jeopardy!’ Game, Second Most in the Record Books
Reigning champion’s consecutive victory streak trails only Ken Jennings
Amy Schneider on the set of “Jeopardy!”PHOTO: /ASSOCIATED PRESS
By
Jennifer Calfas Follow
Updated Jan. 24, 2022 7:30 pm ET
The clue: The “Jeopardy!” contestant with the second-highest number of consecutive wins. The answer: Who is Amy Schneider?
Ms. Schneider won her 39th straight game of “Jeopardy!” Monday night, enough to move solely behind Ken Jennings, who had 74 straight wins in 2004.
Ms. Schneider, the reigning champion, surpassed Matt Amodio, a Ph.D. student at Yale University who completed a 38-game winning streak in 2021.
“It still feels unreal,” Ms. Schneider, an engineering manager from Oakland, Calif., said in a statement provided by the game show.
Ms. Schneider’s winning streak has been part of a successful season for “Jeopardy!” with three champions notching at least 10 consecutive wins and a new executive producer who views the historic game show as a sport.
Matt Amodio after his total win amount was announced last year.PHOTO: /ASSOCIATED PRESS
The reigning champion’s streak and other highlights of this season are a welcome reprieve from the drama surrounding the show’s search for a new host to replace the late Alex Trebek. Mike Richards, then an executive producer on the show, stepped down from his newly announced role as host amid controversy over his inside role in the hiring search and his involvement in past employment lawsuits.
The show has yet to name a permanent host. Mr. Jennings is alternating hosting duties for the rest of this season with Mayim Bialik, an actress with a Ph.D. in neuroscience.
Ms. Schneider’s move to second place adds another accolade to her list. She became the first woman to win $1 million in nontournament play and the fourth person ever to do so on the show. Since her streak began in mid-November, Ms. Schneider has earned more than $1.3 million in her dozens of games played.
Earlier this month, she surpassed 2019 “Jeopardy!” winner James Holzhauer’s 32 consecutive wins, moving the champion known for his high-earning wins into fourth place for consecutive games won. Mr. Holzhauer congratulated Ms. Schneider when she won her 33rd game earlier this month. “This makes three eligible players in the 30+ millionaires club,” Mr. Holzauer tweeted, with a thinking face emoji.
“Jeopardy!” contestants can set these records, winning dozens of games against two new competitors each round because of a rule change at the show in 2003. Before then, contestants were only allowed to win up to five games in a row. Not long after the rule change, Mr. Jennings set a new—and since unattainable record—of 74 consecutive wins in 2004.
Ms. Schneider, who is a transgender woman, earned a special recognition by GLAAD, an advocacy group for the LGBT community, in the organization’s annual media awards. She said in an interview on “Good Morning America” on Monday that representing the community was the highlight of her experience on the show.
“The best part for me has been being on TV as my true self, expressing myself and representing the entire community of trans people and just being a smart, confident woman and doing something supernormal like being on ‘Jeopardy!’,” she said in the interview.
Ms. Schneider and Mr. Amodio will play against each other in the show’s next “Tournament of Champions,” a competition that features players who won the most games over the last season.
“It’s going to be a tight competition,” Ms. Schneider said. |
