Amy Schneider Makes History on Jeopardy!

Forty-two year old Ohio Native, Amy Schneider holds the record as the only woman to have won over one million dollars on the global phenomenon TV show, Jeopardy! Schneider is a software engineer currently residing in Oakland, California. She is a long time Jeopardy! fan and was even voted “Most Likely to Appear On Jeopardy! '' in eighth grade. Prior to Schneider, only three people had achieved the coveted one million dollar mark. After starting her Jeopardy winning streak last November, Amy only missed one question over the next fourteen games. Schneider also holds the record for most consecutive wins by a female contestant at thirty nine. She holds a 95% accuracy rate on the show. Schneider’s streak remains the longest for a woman and the second longest all time.

Amy lists her mother as one of her biggest inspirations. She says that competing in such a male dominated environment like Jeopardy! is hard, but her mother’s persistence as one of the few women in her college is a constant inspiration for Schneider. Schneider says that Jeopardy! is so well suited for her because she has a passion for learning and a keen memory. In an interview with CNBC, she was asked about her secret to success and she said  "The main secret is just being curious and spending my life learning a lot of stuff.”On January 26, Schneider was defeated by Chicago Native Rhone Talsma, ending her impressive winning streak of forty. For the first time in what seems like forever, the game came down to “Final Jeopardy,” the final round on the show. Schneider, who had been recently struggling with “Final Jeopardy,” was defeated, despite leading the game heading into the final round. Schneider says that she knew her streak was in danger when the game went down to the final round. 

Despite a disappointing finish, Amy Schneider seems content with the fact that she was able to make her family and community proud with her incredible run. Since the episodes were filmed about three months ago, Amy has had to keep her loss a secret from her many social media followers. Schneider holds the second longest winning streak in Jeopardy history, and the longest streak for a woman. Schneider amassed well over $1,000,000on the show and will forever be remembered as one of the most successful Jeopardy contestants of all time.

By Sawyer Surgarman