Amy Schneider (born May 29, 1979) is an American writer and game show contestant.[4] Winning 40 consecutive games on the quiz show Jeopardy! from November 2021 to January 2022 and the November 2022 Tournament of Champions, she holds the second-longest win streak in the program's history, behind only Ken Jennings (74 games), who hosted the show as she competed. Her streak is the longest win streak by a woman.[5][6] She is the most successful woman and most successful transgender contestant ever to compete on the show, in terms of both the length of her streak and her $1.6 million in winnings.
Schneider grew up in Dayton, Ohio,[9] and attended Chaminade-Julienne High School.[10] In eighth grade, she was voted "Most likely to appear on Jeopardy!" by her classmates.[11] She graduated from the University of Dayton with a degree in computer science.[12]
Throughout her run on Jeopardy!, she expressed admiration for past champions Ken Jennings, James Holzhauer, Matt Amodio, and Julia Collins (the first woman to win 20 games in a row, at the time Jeopardy!'s second-longest streak). On a January 2022 episode of Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen, Schneider said that she hoped Jennings would become the permanent host of the program, citing his comforting and empathetic presence.[13]
Schneider has a cat named Meep, a name given to her at the shelter before adoption, "because the only noise she would make was 'meep'. Me and my girlfriend said we would find another name for her, but she kept making that noise, and we realized it was the right name."[7]
Schneider married her partner Genevieve Davis on May 9, 2022, after a three-month engagement.[18]
Jeopardy! streak
Schneider's first victory occurred on the November 17, 2021, episode, dethroning five-day champion Andrew He.[19] In the following 14 games, she missed only one Final Jeopardy! question. She missed a second in her 16th win. In total, Schneider has won over $1 million on Jeopardy!,[20] the fifth-most winnings of any contestant on the show in all play.[21] Schneider is the first openly transgender contestant to qualify for the Tournament of Champions.[9] Her winning streak came one year after Kate Freeman became the first openly transgender contestant to win on the show.[22] Schneider, who viewed Freeman's victory and several other trans contestants' losing appearances on the show as inspiration, has described the significance of having a trans identity: "The fact is, I don't actually think about being trans all that often, and so when appearing on national television, I wanted to represent that part of my identity accurately: as important, but also relatively minor."[14] After surpassing Amodio's 38-game winning streak in the January 24, 2022, episode, Schneider took second place for the most consecutive wins in Jeopardy! history at 39, behind only Jennings's 74 consecutive wins.[23][24]
End of streak
Schneider was defeated in her 41st episode, aired on January 26, 2022, finishing second behind Rhone Talsma, a librarian from Chicago, Illinois.[25][26] The "Final Jeopardy!" clue was, "The only nation in the world whose name in English ends in an H, it's also one of the 10 most populous." Talsma responded, "What is Bangladesh?", which was correct, putting him ahead of Schneider who had no response.[27] Her winnings totaled over $1,300,000, ranking her fourth in most money won in regular-season play behind Jennings, Holzhauer, and Amodio.[21]
Tournament of Champions
Schneider appeared in the Jeopardy! Tournament of Champions that aired in November 2022.[28] On November 21, she won the tournament, along with its $250,000 grand prize.[29] She was the first openly transgender person to compete in, and to win, the Jeopardy! Tournament of Champions.[30]
Jeopardy! Masters
In January 2023, ABC announced a new primetime Jeopardy! spinoff, Jeopardy! Masters, which brought back Schneider along with Amodio, Holzhauer, Sam Buttrey, Andrew He, and Mattea Roach in a Champions League-style event.[31] Schneider finished the quarter final round of Jeopardy! Masters in 5th place, and was eliminated from the competition.[32]
Strategy
Schneider has explained that when she sees a category where she is weak, she gets it "out of the way first. That way, if there were any doubles in that category, they would come up when there wasn't as much money to be wagered."[33] Later, she described her wagering strategy in a runaway game with little competition: "round up the second place score to the nearest thousand, double it, subtract it from my score, and then subtract another thousand in case I'd messed something up.[34] Schneider said that doing crossword puzzles helps her think of words "as both a concept and a collection of letters at the same time".[35]
Regular play winnings
Game no.
Air date
Final score
Cumulative winnings
Notes
1
November 17
$31,600*
$31,600
2
November 18
$33,800
$65,400
3
November 19
$44,800
$110,200
4
November 22
$45,400
$155,600
5
November 23
$14,800
$170,400
First game in which she failed to give a correct response in Final Jeopardy! round.
Second game in which she failed to give a correct response in Final Jeopardy! round.
17
December 23
$56,000
$687,400
18
December 24
$19,400
$706,800
Third game in which she failed to give a correct response in Final Jeopardy! round.
19
December 27
$38,400
$745,200
20
December 28
$23,400
$768,600
21
December 29
$37,400
$806,000
Set a record for longest win streak by a female player
22
December 30
$25,600*
$831,600
23
December 31
$24,000
$855,600
Fourth game in which she failed to give a correct response in Final Jeopardy! round.
24
January 3
$42,000
$897,600
25
January 4
$20,400
$918,000
Fifth game in which she failed to give a correct response in Final Jeopardy! round.
26
January 5
$32,000
$950,000
27
January 6
$27,400*
$977,400
28
January 7
$42,200
$1,019,600
Became fourth Jeopardy! contestant to win $1 million in regular gameplay winnings
29
January 10
$15,800
$1,035,400
Sixth game in which she failed to give a correct response in Final Jeopardy! round.
30
January 11
$22,400
$1,057,800
Seventh game in which she failed to give a correct response in Final Jeopardy! round.
31
January 12
$11,000
$1,068,800
Eighth game in which she failed to give a correct response in Final Jeopardy! round.
32
January 13
$32,800
$1,101,600
33
January 14
$10,200
$1,111,800
Ninth game in which she failed to give a correct response in Final Jeopardy! round, lowest single day total.
34
January 17
$36,800
$1,148,600
35
January 18
$15,400
$1,164,000
Tenth game in which she failed to give a correct response in Final Jeopardy! round.
36
January 19
$17,800
$1,181,800
Eleventh game in which she failed to give a correct response in Final Jeopardy! round.
37
January 20
$71,400
$1,253,200
38
January 21
$54,000
$1,307,200
39
January 24
$12,600
$1,319,800
Twelfth game in which she failed to give a correct response in Final Jeopardy! round. Passed Matt Amodio for second-longest winning streak in regular play, behind Ken Jennings.
40
January 25
$63,000
$1,382,800
41
January 26
$19,600‡
$1,384,800
Defeated by challenger Rhone Talsma, who finished the game with $29,600. At the end of the first round, Schneider had $7,200; Talsma had $3,400; and challenger Janice Hawthorne Timm had $2,000. At the end of Double Jeopardy!, Schneider was in the lead with $27,600; Talsma was in second place with $17,600; and Hawthorne Timm was in third with $3,200. Schneider gave the wrong answer and finished second. She was awarded $2,000. This was the 13th game in which she failed to give a correct response in the Final Jeopardy! round.
* Yellow background denotes game which was not a runaway (lead going into Final Jeopardy! round could not guarantee a win).
‡ Red background denotes game in which Schneider is defeated.
