Jeopardy champion Amy Schneider becomes only fourth person and first woman to cross $1 million mark
Jeopardy has minted another millionaire.
Champion Amy Schneider surpassed $1 million in winnings on Friday's episode of the quiz show, becoming only the fourth contestant — and the first female champion — to do so during a regular-season winning streak.
"It feels amazing, it feels strange," Schneider said in a statement. "It's not a sum of money I ever anticipated would be associated with my name."
The first competitor to achieve this milestone was current Jeopardy host and still highest-winning champ Ken Jennings, who congratulated Schneider following her 28th victory on the episode.
Jeopardy Productions Amy Schneider has become the fourth 'Jeopardy' contestant — and first woman — to earn more than $1 million.
Schneider's coup comes in the midst of a remarkable run of champions on Jeopardy. It took more than a decade for a second contestant to hit the $1 million mark after Jennings — James Holzhauer finally did so during his extraordinary winning streak in 2019 — but two have now passed it within less than six months. Last year, Matt Amodio racked up more than $1.5 million during his historic 38-game run, breaking the million-dollar barrier in September.
Schneider's running total now stands at $1,019,600, fourth place among the show's highest-earning champions behind Amodio, Holzhauer, and Jennings. The latter two remain the only Jeopardy champions to earn more than $2 million in non-tournament games, with $2,462,216 and $2,520,700, respectively. (Even including Jeopardy tournaments, Schneider is still only the fifth millionaire in the show's history; five-game champion Brad Rutter netted more than $4 million across several years of tournament play.) Should Schneider finish next week as Jeopardy champion, she'll surpass Holzhauer's streak to become the third-longest-running winner of all time.
In addition to those milestones, Schneider is the first openly transgender Jeopardy contestant to qualify for the show's Tournament of Champions. She and Amodio will likely go head-to-head in the tournament later this year, a match that will undoubtedly make for thrilling game-show TV.
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