Jeopardy!‘s Tournament of Champions as a new champion: Amy Schneider. On Monday, Schneider prevailed in the competition, which saw a record number of super-champions all competing for the $250,000 prize over the course of the tournament. Schneider competed in six Tournament of Champions games, going up against Andrew He and Sam Buttrey, ultimately winning her final game with a total score of $28,600.
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“I feel amazing,” Schneider said in a press release (via PEOPLE). “Earlier in the finals, I had this sudden moment of seeing myself and being like, ‘I’m on stage in the Tournament of Champions finals,’ and that was crazy. And I won! It’s a great feeling.”
Schneider had previously competed against He in Season 38 of Jeopardy, where she ended He’s five-game winning streak.
“I both wanted to [compete against He] and was afraid of facing him again,” Schneider said. “I knew he was one of the top competitors in the field. He was definitely someone that I knew could beat me because he very nearly did before, and he did a couple of times here as well. Any of the three of us really could have won if a very small number of things had gone differently. I’m glad we got a really fair chance to test our skills against each other, and I’d love to play him again someday, somehow.”
Schneider is the most successful female Jeopardy! contestant in history She is also the first transgender contestant to qualify for the Tournament of Champions and her win makes her the first transgender winner in that category as well. Schneider currently holds the second spot in terms of all-time consecutive wins, behind only Ken Jennings, who was host for the tournament. Jennings and Mayim Bialik have been sharing co-hosting duties for Jeopardy! overall this season.
“In Mayim and Ken, we have two outstanding hosts at the beginning of their Jeopardy! hosting careers who connect with their own unique fanbases, new fans, and the traditional Jeopardy! viewer,” Davies said. “Ken will kick off the season in September, host the inaugural Second Chance competition and the heavily anticipated Tournament of Champions featuring Amy Schneider, Matt Amodio, Mattea Roach, Ryan Long, and many, many more. His initial hosting run will take us through December.”
“In the meantime, Mayim will host Celebrity Jeopardy! on ABC in primetime,” he continued. “When she takes over from Ken in January, the current plan is to have her host a couple of new tournaments as well as the Jeopardy! National College Championship and as many weeks as she can manage with her other primetime commitment to “Call Me Kat.” We know you value consistency, so we will not flip flop the hosts constantly and will keep you informed about the hosting schedule.”
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