Amy Schneider makes 'Jeopardy!' history with fourth-highest winnings in regular season play

Amy Schneider – who's won 17 consecutive games of Jeopardy! – is climbing the ladder of series champions.

She's now collected the fourth-highest winnings in regular season play with $687,400, behind legends Matt Amodio ($1,518,601), James Holzhauer ($2,462,216) and Ken Jennings ($2,520,700).

The engineering manager from Oakland, California, became the first openly transgender contestant to qualify for a spot in the next tournament of top winners after just five wins earlier this year. She's since opened up about the value of on-screen representation.

"I am so incredibly grateful," she said in a recent interview with San Francisco station KGO-TV. "Hopefully I can send a positive message to the nerdy trans girl who wants to be on the show too."

Schneider regularly talks about her gameplay on her Twitter account, @Jeopardamy.

"Post-game thoughts: -Not a lot of drama in this one, I have to say. Sorry if it wasn't very entertaining! But of course you never know how it will be going in..." she began a thread on Wednesday about her Jeopardy! game.

Aww: 'Jeopardy' contestant Amy Schneider wants to 'send a positive message to the nerdy trans girl'

Of the "Jeopardy!" contestant greats, Schneider said she'd like to beat James Holzhauer, who won 32 games in a row in 2019, nabbed a total of $2,962,216 in prize money and holds the show record for single-game winnings with $131,127.

Growing up in Ohio with parents who were "Jeopardy!" fans – and a mom who was a college professor – Schneider was instilled with a love for learning and the trivia show from a young age.

After she won her first 10 games, Schneider said in a statement that "it’s just so surprising. You know, I’m not going to pretend that I didn’t think I could do good. But this has just been so much better than what I thought I would do."

How it started: Amy Schneider extends 'Jeopardy!' winning streak to five

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Jeopardy! player Amy Schneider collects fourth-highest winnings