“Jeopardy!” star Amy Schneider ties James Holzhauer’s third-place record for consecutive games won

“Jeopardy!” icon Amy Schneider can’t be stopped. After winning her 32nd straight game on Thursday night, she is now tied for third place with James Holzahuer for the number of consecutive games won. 

Schneider took home the win with $32,800 on Thursday night. She was far ahead of her competition for most of the game, especially after finding — and correctly answering — all three of the Daily Double questions. She had $28,800 going into Final Jeopardy, with her second-place competitor at only $11,200. A correct answer about “The words of Victor Hugo” gave her an additional $4,000. 

The first transgender “Jeopardy!” contestant to qualify for the Tournament of Champions, Schneider has captivated audiences with her gameplay. Since her first game on November 17, she has won $1,101,600 and is the highest earning female contestant in “Jeopardy!” history. 

But for months, she had not yet reached the records of Holzhauer, Matt Amodio or Ken Jennings, who made up the top three for consecutive games won and for total regular-season winnings. 

She is $417,001 away from overtaking Matt Amodio’s third-place spot for highest regular season play winnings, and only six games away from tying Ammodio’s second-place streak of 38 games. But she still has a long way to go before upsetting Ken Jennings’ records: $2,520,700 over 74 games.  

An Oakland resident and engineering manager, Schneider has been extremely vocal about her success on the show and the response she receives as an out and proud transgender woman. 

“The fact is, I don’t actually think about being trans all that often, and so when appearing on national television, I wanted to represent that part of my identity accurately: as important, but also relatively minor,” she tweeted in November, referencing a transgender pride flag pin she wore on the show.  “But I also didn’t want it to seem as if it was some kind of shameful secret. While it’s gratifying to know that people didn’t necessarily know I was trans until they read about it, I do want people to know that aspect of me. I think being trans is really cool!”

Schneider’s next game will air on Friday night. If she wins, she will surpass Holzhauer’s record, taking the third place spot on the consecutive games won leaderboard.