Oakland Woman Wins 39th Jeopardy Game, 2nd Only To Ken Jennings

OAKLAND, CA — Clue: This openly transgender ‘Jeopardy’ contestant from Oakland earned the number two spot in all-time consecutive wins Monday night.

Answer: Who is Amy Schneider?

On Monday, Schneider, a 42-year-old engineering manager from Oakland, won her 39th straight game in Jeopardy, winning a total of $1,319,800. Only Ken Jennings, who won 74 straight games in 2004, has more consecutive wins than Schneider. Schneider has won every single game since she started playing in November.

"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 also became the fifth millionaire in the show’s history, the highest earning female contestant in the show’s history, and the first openly trans contestant to qualify for the show’s Tournament of Champions. She will face off against Matt Amodio, a 31-year-old computer science Ph.D. who won 38 games in 2021. Even though Schneider beat him by one game on Monday, he still earned more total money than she did after his winning streak came to an end in October.

"It's going to be an honor playing against you, and it's going to be a tight competition,” Schneider said to Amodio in her statement.