Jeopardy! officially has its latest dominant champion, and she has the stats to prove it. Contestant Amy Schneider is the current quiz show champ, and is set to return after the Professor’s Tournament concludes later this month. Journalist Michael Davies shared a comparison of Schnieder’s stats against those of previous champ Matt Amodio, and it is clear that she has a number of skills and compliments that make her stand out, such as a lower average on the number of clues answered incorrectly per game.
Notably, Amodio’s previous winning streak was a big draw for Jeopardy! audiences and even helped the show reclaim its spot at the top of the daytime TV ratings. In October, The Wrap reported that, for the week ending on Oct. 3, Jeopardy! nabbed a 5.5 in the ratings, placing it in the top syndicated TV shows spot for the first time since April. The ratings win coincided with Amodio’s winning streak, which surpassed one achieved by James Holzhauer. Amodio is a PH.D. student who ended his run with 38 consecutive victories.
Videos by PopCulture.com
This landed Amodio in the second-place position, behind Ken Jennings, who remains the all-time record holder with 74 straight wins. “I always wanted to be a Jeopardy! champion, and I accomplished that,” Amodio said in a statement shared by The Wrap. “l know going into every bar trivia game that I play that I’m going to come in with a little intimidation factor. But also, I just like the badge that it represents. As somebody who prioritizes knowledge and knowing things, this is really a good one to have following me everywhere.”
In other recent Jeopardy! news, it was announced that current hosts Mayim Bialik and Ken Jennings will remain with the show and continue sharing the hosting duties through the end of the season. Jennings previously served as an interim host during Season 37, as did Bialik. Earlier this year, Bialik was made the permanent host for all future Jeopardy! primetime specials, and more recently was tasked with being the show’s temporary host.
This came following a major controversy surrounding exited host and executive producer Mike Richards. At the time Richards was fired, he had already filmed the first five episodes of Jeopardy! Season 38, which still aired in mid-September. While it was not necessarily explained, the reason for the episodes still airing was most likely due to gameplay rules. We can speculate that the current producers of the show would deem retaping all the episodes as unfair to the players.
