Back in 2008, Larissa Kelly set the record for the highest earnings of any female “Jeopardy!” champ. She won a total of $655,930. Her record was recently smashed by contestant Amy Schneider who has won 20 games in a row. Her earnings currently total $768,600.
While it’s exciting for Schneider that she has set a new record for female contestants, that means that the previous female champ no longer holds her record. How does she feel about that?
Kelly took to Twitter to congratulate Schneider. She wrote, “Well, it was fun to hold a Jeopardy record for a few years…but it’s been even more fun to watch @Jeopardamy set new standards for excellence, on the show and off. Congratulations to Amy on becoming the woman with the highest overall earnings in the show’s history!”
Schneider responded to Kelly’s tweet by writing, “Thanks so much, I’m honored to be in your company, and I look forward to some day watching the woman who beats us both!”
Kelly replied, “I hope there will be a long line of such women, but you are certainly setting the bar extremely high for them! (And holy hell, that’s *before* any tournaments…can’t wait to see the fireworks to come!)”
Schneider grew up in Dayton, Ohio, and she has dreamed of being a contestant on “Jeopardy!” since she was 5 years old. She is now 42 and has been trying to get on the show for about 10 years. While she was disappointed that she didn’t get to be on the show before Alex Trebek passed away, she thinks she is better prepared now than she would have been a year ago, and she thinks Ken Jennings is doing a great job as host.
Besides setting the record as the female with the highest earnings on the show, Schneider is also the first openly transgender contestant to qualify for the “Tournament of Champions.” She holds the record as the contestant with the 4th highest earnings on the show, right behind Matt Amodio, James Holzhauer and Ken Jennings.