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‘Jeopardy!’ Contestant Amy Schneider Becomes First Woman & Openly Transgender Contestant to Make $1 Million

It looks like Jeopardy! fans can expect a new name to be included among the list of greats like Ken Jennings and James Holzhauer.

Amy Schneider, who has maintained a winning streak on the trivia show for 28 days now, just passed the $1 million mark in winnings. This makes her only the fourth person to ever achieve this milestone during the regular season (alongside Jennings, Holzhauer and recent winner Matt Amodio).

Notably, Schneider is the first woman to accomplish this feat, as well as being the first openly transgender contestant to achieve this goal, too. Schneider's impressive earnings are currently sitting at $1,019,600, and depending on how long she continues, she could also join Jennings and Holzhauer as only the third contestant to win over $2 million in non-tournament games.

Along with joining the millionaires' club, Schneider is also fourth in the game show's history for most consecutive wins, as well as being fifth in the list of all-time winnings on the show (including tournaments).

When asked if there was anything she wanted to splurge on with her money, Schneider smiled and said, “Definitely some nice designer clothes, I think. I would like to develop a taste for that, I think [that] would be nice.”

In response to her achievement, Schneider also said, “It feels amazing, it feels strange. It’s not a sum of money I ever anticipated would be associated with my name.” But she added, “This has been something I have wanted since I can remember...Being in the history of the game I think is something. You know, the money doesn’t feel real yet but that is something that I will never not be proud of.”

Congratulations, Amy! We'll be rooting for you to reach that $2 million next.

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calfee

Associate Editor, News and Entertainment

Joel is the Associate Editor for News & Entertainment and has been reporting on all things pop culture for over 5 years. Before working at PureWow, he served as a Features...