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Ohio native Amy Schneider now has the 2nd-highest winning streak in ‘Jeopardy!’ history

By: Rachel Treisman | NPR
Posted on: Tuesday, January 25, 2022

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WASHINGTON, D.C. (NPR) — Jeopardy! champion Amy Schneider has done it again.

The Dayton native extended her historic winning streak on Monday night, dominating her 39th game to officially become the contestant with the second-most consecutive wins of all time.

That title had previously been held by graduate student Matt Amodio, whose 38-game streak ended in October 2021 (the two will face off in the next Tournament of Champions). The all-time record belongs to legend Ken Jennings, who won 74 consecutive games in 2004 and has a front-row seat to Schneider’s ascendancy as the current guest host of the show.

After Schneider won last night’s game — despite answering incorrectly in Final Jeopardy — Jennings announced the milestone onstage as the audience applauded.

“It still feels unreal,” Schneider said in a statement. “Knowing that I had this chance, I was definitely thinking about it. Then Ken said it, and I thought, ‘Alright, I just accomplished this huge thing’ and it was pretty great.”

Schneider’s winnings now total $1,319,800.

The engineering manager from Oakland, Calif., has already shattered her share of records since beginning her run on Nov. 17.

Schneider became just the fifth millionaire in show history (and the fourth to reach that milestone in regular play) as well as the highest-winning female contestant. She’s also the first openly trans contestant to qualify for the show’s Tournament of Champions.

She spoke to NPR earlier this month about her experience and the importance of representation.

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This story originally appeared in the Morning Edition live blog.