Amy Schneider's phenomenal run on Jeopardy! continues to break records, as she has now become the highest-earning woman in the show's entire history.
On Friday night, the engineering manager secured her 18th consecutive victory and increased her total earnings to $706,800, leaving her just one win away from equalling the 19-game streaks of Jason Zuffranieri and David Madden.
The Ohio native's successful week also meant that she had leapfrogged Larissa Kelly to become the top-earning woman contestant in the show's history.
Writer and academic Kelly, who built up her $655,930 record through regular season play and Jeopardy! tournament appearances, acknowledged Schneider's feat in a tweet shared on December 24.
"Well, it was fun to hold a Jeopardy record for a few years...but it's been even more fun to watch @Jeopardamy set new standards for excellence, on the show and off," Kelly wrote: "Congratulations to Amy on becoming the woman with the highest overall earnings in the show's history!"
Schneider responded: "Thanks so much, I'm honored to be in your company, and I look forward to some day watching the woman who beats us both!"
"I hope there will be a long line of such women," Kelly wrote back, "but you are certainly setting the bar extremely high for them! (And holy hell, that's *before* any tournaments...can't wait to see the fireworks to come!)"
In regular season earnings, Schneider now sits in fourth place, behind Ken Jennings ($2,520,700, 74 games), James Holzhauer ($2,462,216, 32 games) and Matt Amodio ($1,518,601, 38 games).
Soon after her debut on the show, Schneider became the first openly transgender woman to qualify for the Tournament of Champions.
While Schneider recently declared that she's now on "a quest" to earn $1 million, she revealed late last month that she's hoping to beat the record of another previous Jeopardy! champ.
Speaking to Jeopardy! Clue Crew member Jimmy McGuire, California-based Schneider said: "I'd like to beat James Holzhauer, I think. He seems very confident, I guess I'll say. And so it would sort of feel good, I think, in a way."
In an interview with Newsweek days after her debut Jeopardy! episode aired, Schneider revealed that she had attempted to get on on the show for more than 10 years.
Reasoning that there were likely "a few" factors at play in her unsuccessful attempts, she said: "When you take the first online test, no matter how good you do it's a random chance whether they look at you to go any further. So that's part of it.
"The reality is that for the first few years of that, when I was trying out, I was, as far as any of us knew, a standard white guy. And there's just more competition for those slots on Jeopardy!
"They're making a TV show, they don't want everybody to look the same, and looked a lot like many of the other contestants, and I think that definitely made it a little tougher for me at that time. I would have got on eventually—I was never gonna stop trying!"
Schneider will be seen vying for her 19th consecutive Jeopardy! win on Monday night.
Amy Schneider becomes highest-earning woman in "Jeopardy!" history
Engineering manager Amy Schneider rounded out last week with $706,800 in winnings on "Jeopardy!"—breaking Larissa Kelly's previous record.
www.newsweek.com
Amy Schneider Becomes Highest-Earning Woman in 'Jeopardy!' History
archived 28 Dec 2021 10:56:27 UTC
