Jeopardy!’s New Champion Breaks A Million Dollar Record

marking yet another historic record for the new champion. Her record-setting performance has seen her secure 28 victories in a row, putting her winnings over the mark

By James Brizuela | Published

This article is more than 2 years old

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Jeopardy has once again crowned a champion that has gone over the million mark for winnings. Amy Schneider is now the first woman to ever pass the million dollar mark on Jeopardy, marking yet another historic record for the new champion. Her record-setting performance has seen her secure 28 victories in a row, putting her winnings over the mark, and making her the fourth contestant in the shows’ history to make that much money in winnings. Schneider’s final $42,200 win came with answering the Final Jeopardy question correctly on Friday. Schneider called her record-setting performance on the show “a life-changing experience.” That would certainly be true for anyone able to win such a large sum of money. Schneider is a software engineer from Oakland, California.

A press release went into further details about how Schneider has felt since going over the million-dollar mark. According to her, “It’s not a sum of money I ever anticipated would be associated with my name.” That is some fantastic news, as that much money could certainly change anyone’s life. Well played to Schneider for going on such a historic run with Jeopardy. This exciting news certainly comes at a time in which the game show has been surrounded by controversy. Since the passing of long-time host, Alex Trebek, there has been a myriad of celebrities that have come on to take over the hosting duties. Aaron Rodgers, Katie Couric, and LeVar Burton have taken their turn as the potential future permanent hosts of the show, though none of them were chosen as the long-term replacement for Trebek.

However, now Jeopardy can continue to inspire those smart enough to take on the challenge of becoming champions, like Amy Schneider. Schneider also wore a transgender pin on the show and has revealed that she is a trans woman and “very proud” of that fact. She didn’t want the focus to be on her being transgender, so she simply decided to wear a pin to show her pride in what she has accomplished as a trans woman. Schneider took to her Twitter account to speak on the pure positivity she has received since becoming the new champion.

It’s fantastic to see the world supporting inclusion and not focusing on negativity when someone has accomplished such an amazing feat. Winning for so long on Jeopardy has got to be extremely difficult, especially being that there are so many talented contestants that constantly appear on the show. Amy Schenider going over the million-dollar mark is astounding. It has been 15 years since Ken Jennings went on his historic run where he managed 74 consecutive victories. It’s exciting to see another major historic run all years later, especially after the difficulties the show has experienced since the passing of Trebek.

More recently though, Jeopardy contestant James Holzhauer won 32 games in a row, and he remains number two on the list for biggest earners on the show. Matt Amodio went on a 38 game winning streak placing him at the number three spot in all-time in Jeopardy winnings. Schneider has joined this list at number four total. That is a high honor. Hopefully, Schneider can continue to break records and inspire fans around the world.