| Amy Schneider | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born: | May 29, 1979 |
| Birth Hometown: | Dayton, Ohio |
| Occupation: | Engineering manager Writer |
| Known for: | 2nd biggest Jeopardy! money winner of season 38 in regular-season play 12th super-champion in Jeopardy! history 4th biggest Jeopardy! money winner in regular-season play 5th biggest Jeopardy! overall money winner 2nd-longest winning streak in Jeopardy! history Winning the 2022 Jeopardy! Tournament of Champions |
Amy Schneider (born on May 29, 1979) is a writer and former engineering manager from Oakland, California.
Early Life[]
Amy Schneider was born and raised in Dayton, Ohio. She was noted as academically gifted and talented fairly young, and was voted most likely to win Jeopardy by her eighth grade classmates.
She attended and graduated from the University of Dayton in her native Ohio while she was still presenting as male. At the time of her initial Jeopardy run, she was an engineering manager. Since her initial run, she has focused on being a writer and an advocate for transgender rights.
Jeopardy![]
Trivia[]
- Amy is the 2nd transgender contestant and 1st out transgender (being a contestant after finding out they are transgender) to make it to the Tournament of Champions (Catherine Ramen won 5 games in season 14 and returned for the 1998 Tournament of Champions as well as the 2005 Ultimate Tournament of Champions - however, all of those were played prior to her transitioning). More recently, Kate Freeman won 1 game in December of 2020, though she would finish in third place the next game.
- Similarly, after Amy's run, another out transgender contestant, Hannah Wilson, won 8 games in May of 2023, and qualified for the following Tournament of Champions.
- Similarly to Matt Amodio, contestants who have lost to her are referred to as having been “Schneidered”.
- A champion who beats a champion who has won 5 consecutive wins is a champion who breaks the jinx that cannot win more than 5 consecutive wins.
- Like Matt A. and Mattea, she was out after having Countries of the World as the FJ! category. Also, half of those who defeated "JEOPARDY!" ultrachampions were librarians from Chicago (David Madden, Arthur Chu, Matt Jackson, James Holzhauer, Austin Rogers).
- Like David Madden and Seth Wilson, she is the third champ to win 10 or more in a row, coming from second place before FJ![1].
- As she earned the title of 40th straight champion and fourth millionaire in regular, the next ToC will be an unprecedented ToC with five ten-game winning champs and two millionaires[2].
- She is the first champion to have more than a year of broadcasting date among the champions with more than 10 wins[3].
- She is 9th for American game show winnings records after 2022 ToC (11th place after regular game).
- Like S25 ToC winner Dan Pawson, she will be the top seed of the ToC leaderboard that is not the highest regular game prize money.
- So far, she is the 4th champion to achieve $30,000+ Coryat Score in 10 or more times.(Ken: x23, Matt A: x18, James: x20, Amy: x12) For reference, all of them became millionaires in the regular game, and all of them achieved more than 1000 correct answers.[4]
- Even after her departure, the strength of the female contestants was noticeable, with the 4 female contestants winning 4 consecutive victories, and three months later Mattea Roach became the third woman to become the champion with 10 or more victories (13th in history)[5]. On the other hand, the male contestant has not been able to exceed 4 consecutive wins until Ryan Long, let alone 5 consecutive victories[6].
- On the occasion of the International Transgender Day of Visibility in 2022, she was a guest at white house for transgender celebration.
- From appearing on ToC, she often started wearing glasses.
- Among the ToC winners, she is the 5th champion to have a break during the winning streak, and the first female[7].
- She runs a weekly trivia quiz on her Twitter and TikTok accounts (both @jeopardamy).
- Amy's ex-wife Kelly Anneken appeared on Jeopardy! on September 18, 2025 losing to Paolo Pasco.
Incidents and Accidents[]
- It is said that there was a robbery at the beginning of 2022, and credit cards and valuables were stolen. Fortunately, there was no life-threatening injury[8].
- On June 11, 2022, she gave the first pitch at a baseball game, which was edited and aired on the Fox Sports channel. In response, Fox Sports revealed that the original verse was edited on the air. There is a saying that netizens are not discriminated against because they are LGBTQ+ people[9].
Personal Life[]
Schneider penned a memoir about her early life, called In the Form of a Question: The Joys and Rewards of a Curious Life. She was raised as a Catholic although she no longer associates herself with the religion. She also revealed that her mother was an alcoholic in her memoir, though this was not apparent to her as a child. Her father was very involved in her upbringing possibly to compensate for this disruption.
Schneider married her first wife in her mid twenties while she was still presenting as male. Her memoir discusses the challenges of that marriage, which ended in divorce. After her initial run on Jeopardy, Schneider remarried. Her wife, Genevieve, has a background in social work.
Book[]
In 2023, Schnedier wrote her own biography titled In the Form of a Question: The Joys and Rewards of a Curious Life, which was published by Avid Reader Press that September.
Additional Pages[]
Gallery[]
References[]
- ↑ All three are first games, and David also finished second in the 12th and 15th games.
- ↑ Also, including myself, 14 out of 21 regular game champs who participated in the ToC set a record of competing together in the regular game.
- ↑ After that Ray Lalonde set the record for the second time.
- ↑ Note that even if you expand the scope to more than 2 episodes, only four are included, Jerome Vered, Roger Craig, Jason Zuffranieri and Cris Pannullo. That said, it is difficult to achieve a Coryat Score of more than $30,000.
- ↑ In the case of the previous three (Christine Whelchel, Margaret Shelton and Maureen O'Neil), they won four consecutive victories.
- ↑ Later, like her, she revealed that she was a sexual minority.
- ↑ Mark Lowenthal (S4) - 1988 Seniors Tournament, Tom Nosek (S9) - 1993 ToC, Buzzy Cohen (S32) - 2016, Teacher Tournament and Power Players week, James Holzhauer (S35) - 2019 Teacher Tournament
- ↑ https://www.nbcnews.com/nbc-out/out-news/trans-jeopardy-champ-amy-schneider-says-was-robbed-recent-attack-rcna10900
- ↑ On June 11, 2022, he gave the first pitch at a baseball game, which was edited and aired on the Fox Sports channel. In response, Fox Sports revealed that the original verse was edited on the air. There is a saying that netizens are not discriminated against because they are LGBTQ+ people.