James Holzhauer praises trans ‘Jeopardy!’ champ Amy Schneider
James Holzhauer said he hasn’t watched “Jeopardy!” in a while. But the Las Vegas professional sports bettor known as “Jeopardy James” is well aware of Amy Schneider’s historic run on the popular quiz show.
Schneider, an engineering manager from Oakland, California, has won 28 games and on Friday became the first woman in the show’s history to earn more than $1 million in nontournament play.
Schneider also is the first transgender person to qualify for the show’s tournament of champions.
In a series of tweets in November, Schneider wrote that she “didn’t want to make too much about being trans, at least in the context of the show.”
“I am a trans woman, and I’m proud of that fact,” she posted. “But I’m a lot of other things, too!”
The only other contestants to win more than $1 million in regular-season games are Ken Jennings, who won $2.52 million during a 74-game win streak in 2004; Holzhauer, who earned $2.46 million during a 32-game win streak in 2019; and Matt Amodio, who won $1.5 million during his 38-game streak last year.
“Still not watching any Jeopardy!, but Amy’s stats are incredible and she’d be a formidable opponent for sure,” Holzhauer said in an email to the Review-Journal.
A native of Naperville, Illinois, Holzhauer has the top 10 spots on the “Jeopardy!” single-game winnings list, including six wins of at least $100,000 and the record of $131,127.
Holzhauer is known as “The High Roller” on the game show “The Chase,” which airs Wednesdays on ABC.
Schneider has won $1,019,001 during her winning streak.
“It feels amazing; it feels strange,” she said of reaching the milestone. “It’s not a sum of money I ever anticipated would be associated with my name.”
“Jeopardy!” airs at 7 p.m. weekdays on KLAS-TV, Channel 8.
Contact reporter Todd Dewey at tdewey@reviewjournal.com. Follow @tdewey33 on Twitter.
