‘Jeopardy!’: Matt Amodio Defeated After 38 Wins

Jeopardy! champion Matt Amodio’s winning streak officially came to an end on Monday’s episode. As USA Today noted, his streak ended after winning an impressive 38 games. In total, Amodio earned $1,518,601 during his time on Jeopardy! 

Amodio was up against two of his strongest opponents yet in Jonathan Fisher, an actor from Coral Gables, Florida, and Jessica Stephens, a statistical research specialist from Nashville, Tennessee. Heading into Final Jeopardy, Amodio was actually in third place after falling behind in the Double Jeopardy round. He ended up getting the final clue wrong. The clue, in the category of Countries of the World, was, “Nazi Germany annexed this nation & divided it into regions of the Alps & the Danube; the Allies later divided it into 4 sectors.” Amodio answered Poland while both Fisher and Stephens correctly guessed Austria. In the end, Fisher got the win.

Following his loss, Amodio issued a statement that read, “Everybody’s so smart and so competent that this could happen any game. And this time it did.” Mayim Bialik, who is currently hosting  as the show decides who it will name as the permanent host, said about Amodio’s time on the program, “It has been an honor and a pleasure to watch you here.” She then said to the audience about the exciting game, “What a way to start the week!”

Even though Amodio’s time on Jeopardy! has ended, he certainly left his mark on the quiz show. He officially topped champion James Holzhauer in consecutive wins (Amodio won 38 games in a row to Holzhauer’s 32). Now, he is only behind Ken Jennings, who won 74 straight games, on that leaderboard. Considering his impressive total, Amodio will also be poised to return for Jeopardy!‘s annual Tournament of Champions. So this won’t be the last time that you’ll see the champion in action. During his time on the show, Amodio frequently spoke out about the significance of his Jeopardy! winning streak. 

“I wanted to win one game. Being on the show is a tremendous accomplishment, and I don’t want to denigrate that at all,” Amodio told Vulture in September regarding his accomplishments. “But once you win, you’re a Jeopardy! champion. You can call yourself a ‘Jeopardy! champion.’ Not a ‘Jeopardy! participant.’ That’s something nobody can take away from you. You might lose the next game, or you might lose 71 games later if you’re Ken Jennings. You’re going to lose eventually. But that never takes away from the descriptor.”