On Tuesday, November 30, Amy Schneider became the first out transgender Jeopardy! participant to qualify for the 'Tournament of Champions.' While she is not the first transgender woman to appear on the show, Amy is the first to be eligible for the annual event.
Amy Schneider has won ten shows so far, including five consecutive wins on Jeopardy! This made her qualify for the annual contest featuring 15 contestants who won five times or more. Schneider won 11 games as of yet, the majority of which are of the runaway type.
The Oakland native has won over $421,200, which puts her in the second position after Matt Amodio from Connecticut, amongst the fifteen other contestants. Matt, meanwhile, has raked in $1,518,601 as of yet.
What is known about Amy Schneider from Jeopardy!?
Amy Schneider is an Engineering Manager at Fieldwire from Oakland, California. However, she grew up in Dayton, Ohio. After graduating from Chaminade-Julienne High School, she attended the University of Dayton and received a Bachelor's of Science degree in Computer in 2002.
Schneider is supposedly around 42-year-old and has a background in engineering and software development. She previously worked with NexTech, from 1999 to 2015. Amy is also an avid podcaster and has hosted hundreds of episodes of her multiple podcasts including, Up Yours, Downstairs! The Downtown Abbey Podcast, The Palm Court, and Family Meetings, amongst others.
In her podcast, Amy Schneider reportedly talked about being bullied for being a trans person during her school days. Furthermore, she recently revealed that it took her almost a decade to muster the courage to come on Jeopardy.
Amy thanked the other trans contestants who had participated in Jeopardy before. Last week, she tweeted:
"There have been a handful before, including one, Kate Freeman, who was the first out trans champion on 12/16/20. My thanks to all of them for blazing the trail!"
Furthermore, regarding her qualification to the Tournament of Champions, she told ABC's KGO-TV:
"Hopefully I can send a positive message to the nerdy trans girl who wants to be on the show too."
Being one of the top two contestants, Amy Schneider will face some heated competition from Matt Amodio, who is currently leading with the number of games won and the total earnings.