Amy Schneider

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Amy Schneider
Born1979 (age 42–43)[1]
Dayton, Ohio, U.S.[2]
Alma materUniversity of Dayton
OccupationEngineering manager
Known for40-game winning streak on Jeopardy!

Amy Schneider (born 1979) is an American engineering manager and game show contestant. She had a 40-game winning streak on the game show Jeopardy! from November 2021 to January 2022, the second-longest win streak in the show's history, behind only Ken Jennings (74 games), who hosted the show as she competed. She is the most successful woman ever to compete on the show, in terms of both her streak and her $1.3 million in winnings.

Schneider is known for her skill in the Final Jeopardy! round,[3] having responded correctly 30 out of 41 times in her run. She lives in Oakland, California.[4] Across all American game shows, she is the eleventh highest-earning contestant of all time.

Early and personal life[]

Schneider grew up in Dayton, Ohio,[5] and attended Chaminade-Julienne High School.[6] In eighth grade, she was voted "Most likely to appear on Jeopardy!" by her classmates.[7]

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.[8]

Schneider has a cat named Meep; during the 17th game, when host Ken Jennings asked why the cat had this name, Schneider responded, "It was the name they gave her at the shelter, 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."[3]

Schneider is a trans woman;[9] she completed gender transition in 2017.[10] On January 19, 2022, Schneider was awarded a GLAAD Special Recognition honor for her Jeopardy! performance.[11]

Jeopardy! streak[]

Schneider's first victory occurred on the November 17, 2021, episode, dethroning five-day champion Andrew He.[12] In the following 14 games, she only missed one Final Jeopardy! question. She missed a second in her 16th win. In total, Schneider has won over $1 million on Jeopardy!,[13] the fifth-most winnings of any contestant on the show in all play.[14] Schneider is the first openly transgender contestant to qualify for the Tournament of Champions.[5] Her winning streak came one year after the first openly transgender contestant, Kate Freeman, competed and won on the show.[15] 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."[9] After surpassing Matt 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, only behind Jennings's 74 consecutive wins.[16][17]

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.[18][19] 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.[20] Her winnings totaled over $1,300,000, ranking her fourth in most money won in regular-season play behind Jennings, Holzhauer, and Amodio.[14]

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."[21] 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.[22] Schneider said that doing crossword puzzles helps her think of words "as both a concept and a collection of letters at the same time".[23]

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ Amy Schneider [@Jeopardamy] (January 2, 2022). "I'm sometimes unsure whether I'm part of Gen X, or a Millennial (I was born in 1979). Evidence on the millennial side: I think avocado toast is great lol" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  2. ^ Schneider, Amy [@Jeopardamy] (December 7, 2021). "I was born in Dayton, OH, where I lived the first 30 years of my life. I grew up in the Five Oaks neighborhood and went to grade school at Corpus Christi. That's where I was named "Most likely to appear on Jeopardy" (so, not in Corpus Christi, Texas, as some have guessed)" (Tweet). Archived from the original on January 6, 2022. Retrieved January 6, 2022 – via Twitter.
  3. ^ a b Florence, Russell, Jr. (December 23, 2021). "'Jeopardy!' Notebook: Smooth sailing for Dayton native on Day 17". Dayton Daily News. Retrieved December 27, 2021.
  4. ^ "December 28, 2021". Jeopardy!. Sony Pictures Television. December 28, 2021. syndication.
  5. ^ a b Yahr, Emily (December 2, 2021). "Amy Schneider has made 'Jeopardy!' history — and helped the show find calm after chaos". The Washington Post. Retrieved December 27, 2021.
  6. ^ Florence Jr, Russell (December 2, 2021). "UPDATE: The reigning 'Jeopardy' champion. Who is Dayton's own Amy Schneider?". Dayton Daily News. Retrieved January 15, 2022.
  7. ^ Cramer, Maria; Gross, Jenny (December 30, 2021). "Amy Schneider Wins the Most Consecutive Jeopardy! Games of Any Female Contestant". The New York Times. Retrieved December 31, 2021.
  8. ^ Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen. Season 19. Episode 15. Sony Pictures Television. January 25, 2022. Bravo.
  9. ^ a b Kimberly Ricci (November 27, 2021). "Transgender 'Jeopardy!' Champ On What 'Sucks' About Winning Streak". Uproxx. Retrieved December 24, 2021.
  10. ^ O'Neill, Shane (January 27, 2022). "'Jeopardy!' Hasn't Had a Player Like Amy Schneider". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved January 27, 2022.
  11. ^ "GLAAD Announces Nominees For The 33rd Annual GLAAD Media Awards" (Press release). GLAAD. January 19, 2022.
  12. ^ Smith, Ryan (November 18, 2021). "Transgender Woman Amy Schneider Becomes New Jeopardy! Champ During Trans Awareness Week". Newsweek. Retrieved January 25, 2022.
  13. ^ Haring, Bruce (January 7, 2022). "Jeopardy! Champion Amy Schneider Breaks $1 Milllion In Winnings". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved January 12, 2022.
  14. ^ a b "Hall of Fame". Jeopardy!. Retrieved January 25, 2022.
  15. ^ Ree Hines (December 16, 2020). "'Jeopardy!' contestant makes history as 1st out transgender player to win". Today. Retrieved December 24, 2021.
  16. ^ Ausiello, Michael (January 24, 2022). "Jeopardy! Champ Amy Schneider Climbs to No. 2 on All-Time Wins List, Behind Reigning MVP Ken Jennings". TVLine. Retrieved January 24, 2022.
  17. ^ Greg Evans (January 24, 2022). "Amy Schneider Continues Jeopardy! Victory Streak To Become Second Winningest Contestant Ever". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved January 25, 2022.
  18. ^ Jacobs, Julia (January 26, 2022). "Amy Schneider's Jeopardy! Reign Ends". The New York Times. Retrieved January 26, 2022.
  19. ^ Evans, Greg (January 26, 2022). "Amy Schneider Jeopardy! Streak Ends After 40 Games And $1.4 Million". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved January 26, 2022.
  20. ^ "Watch What Happened After Amy Schneider Lost". TV Insider. January 27, 2022. Retrieved January 28, 2022.
  21. ^ Schneider, Amy (November 24, 2021). "Amy Schneider: I'm the first trans Jeopardy! contestant in the Tournament of Champions". Newsweek. Retrieved December 4, 2021.
  22. ^ Schneider, Amy [@Jeopardamy] (November 30, 2021). "My general wagering strategy for a runaway game" (Tweet). Retrieved December 4, 2021 – via Twitter.
  23. ^ Ricci, Kimberly (December 14, 2021). "'Jeopardy!' Champ Amy Schneider Suggests Secret Of Her Winning Streak". Uproxx. Retrieved December 19, 2021.
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