Jeopardy!' Super Champ Amy Schneider Returns For Tournament Of Champions
Schneider will make her first appearance on Nov. 9.
“Jeopardy!” superstar and trans activist Amy Schneider is about to make her heavily anticipated return to the show in this year’s “Jeopardy! Tournament of Champions.” The tournament began this week, but Schneider, along with fellow “Jeopardy!” record breakers Matt Amodio and Matea Roach, has been prequalified, if you will, to skip the quarterfinals and proceed directly to the semifinals. Schneider will make her first appearance on Wednesday, Nov. 9.
Schneider, a 43-year-old Dayton, Ohio native, racked up the second longest winning streak in the game show's history. She won 40 games, making her second only to current host Ken Jennings’ 74, and became the first woman to earn over $1 million, as well as the first trans woman to make it to the "Tournament of Champions."
She has since become so famous she’s quit her job and signed with an agent. Schneider spent some of her $1.3 million winnings on an engagement ring for her wife Genevieve Davis and spent some time traveling as well.
“I don’t ever want to go back to a day job,” Schneider told Marie Claire, mentioning that she was working on a memoir and collection of essays. “I want to be able to explore ideas I’m interested in that don’t necessarily have a direct relationship to my life – various ideas I’ve often wondered about.”
To bring greater visibility to trans people, she will also, of course, continue to speak on issues facing the trans community. Schneider has appeared in many Pride parades and celebrations this year, and she picked up a GLAAD Special Recognition honor for her performance on “Jeopardy!”
“It’s also kind of related to being trans,” she said, “but more generally questions of language and identity are also things that I'm interested in.”
If she advances beyond the semifinals, she'll continue on to the finals, which will begin Nov. 14.
Joining Schneider on the TOC will be 24-year-old Mattea Roach, a 23-game champion. Roach, a lesbian, gave a slight preview of what’s to come in the "Tournament of Champions." “There are indeed triumphs, defeats, and epic highs and lows,” she tweeted. “Strap in and get ready for somewhere between two and a half to three and a half weeks of genuinely fantastic television.”
It all kicks off tonight, and there are indeed triumphs, defeats, and epic highs and lows!! Strap in and get ready for somewhere between two and a half to three and a half weeks of genuinely fantastic television
— Mattea Roach (@mattearoach) October 31, 2022
In another tweet, Roach talked about the interview she gave to GLAAD and the importance of queer representation.
Wanted to highlight this interview I did with @glaad earlier in the week - I don't really talk about being a lesbian in any of my contestant anecdotes on the show, so I appreciated the opportunity to discuss what being a queer person on Jeopardy means to me https://t.co/naRL8ocBbp
— Mattea Roach (@mattearoach) May 2, 2022
“I don't really talk about being a lesbian in any of my contestant anecdotes on the show,” Roach said. “So, I appreciated the opportunity to discuss what being a queer person on Jeopardy! means to me.”
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