Jeopardy!’s Amy Schneider Just Made History

What a Jeopardy! season it’s been. On Monday, contestant Amy Schneider achieved the second-longest winning streak in the trivia show’s history, winning her 39th consecutive Jeopardy! game.

With her win, the software engineer from Oakland, California, surpassed previous runner-up Matt Amodio’s 38-game record. So far Schneider has won $1,319,800 on the show—the fifth-highest total ever, including tournament winnings. Schneider has yet to compete in a tournament, but will undoubtedly get her shot in the next Tournament of Champions after her regular-season run is complete.

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

Schneider’s historic streak comes after a rocky start to season 38 of America’s favorite quiz show. After the death of longtime host Alex Trebek, Jeopardy! had a tough time finding someone to fill his shoes, using guest hosts like Aaron Rodgers and LeVar Burton before settling on former Price Is Right E.P. Mike Richards. Richards lasted just one day of filming, or one week of episodes, before past offensive comments and allegations of inappropriate behavior and fostering a toxic work environment at The Price Is Right led him to step down from the position. (In a memo to Jeopardy! staffers, Richards disputed the allegations, writing, “I want you all to know that the way in which my comments and actions have been characterized in these complaints does not reflect the reality of who I am or how we worked together on The Price Is Right.”) Since the controversy, Mayim Bialik and Jennings have taken over and will host the quiz show for the duration of the season. Post-controversy, Richards apologized to his staffers, writing, “I want to apologize to each of you for the unwanted negative attention that has come to Jeopardy! over the last few weeks and for the confusion and delays this is now causing.”

And yet, despite an awkward beginning, season 38 has seen the second- and third-longest Jeopardy! streaks of all time, thanks to Schneider and Amodio—providing a sense of stability and spectacle amid the storm. Schneider has now won more games than any other woman or transgender person to appear on the long-running trivia series. And she shows no signs of stopping, displaying quick buzzer reflexes and answering questions with a 95% rate of accuracy. Her last five wins have all been runaways, with her fellow contestants unable to catch her in Final Jeopardy! due to the massive leads she created for herself.

Still, she’s got a ways to go before she unseats Jennings’s 74-game streak. Watch your back, Ken: Schneider and her $4,000 Daily Doubles are coming for your crown.

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