Jeopardy! star Amy Schneider reveals the ‘strongest opponent’ she wants to face in the future, making the fight even more intense
Jeopardy! star Amy Schneider reveals ‘the one contestant’ she’d like to face off in the future
JEOPARDY! sensation Amy Schneider has revealed the one contestant she wants to go buzzer to buzzer with.
Amy raved about fellow trans contestant Hannah Wilson on Monday’s podcast Inside Jeopardy!.
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Amy, 44, joined the weekly podcast with longtime producer Sarah Foss and former champion Buzzy Cohen.
The 40-time $1.63M winner- second in games won to only host Ken Jennings – was asked if she has any favorite recent contestants.
Amy shared: “I talked a lot with Hannah Wilson,” who won eight games and $229,801 this May.
“And [I] was so happy to see her [on TV], and we just really connected well.
“Of all the people I’ve rooted on the most in the past year or two, she’s the one.”
‘WE LET HER JOURNEY BE HER JOURNEY’
Producer Sarah Foss then spoke about how the game show is lucky to have trans contestants like Amy and Hannah.
“When I talked to Hannah after her run came to an end, she talked about you.”
Foss continued: “And we hadn’t talked about on the show that she was trans, we really let her journey be her journey.
“I just said ‘what inspired you to try out for Jeopardy!’ and she said ‘Amy Schneider’.
“I just thought that we have another great champion on the heels of you, and because of you, thank you.”
The insiders called Amy an “ambassador” for diverse contestants because Amy was such a huge inspiration for Hannah.
Amy was reminded on the podcast that Hannah could win the 2023 Tournament of Champions, and they could face off in next year’s Jeopardy! Masters.
Amy was thrilled by the idea and said the possibility of beating Masters champion James Holzhauer next year “would be nice” too.
WE STAN-NAH!
Hannah, 34, is a transgender woman and data scientist from Chicago, Illinois who first competed on Wednesday, May 3, 2023.
She received her bachelor’s degree in Geography with honors from the University of Chicago.
Her eight-day run was a fan-favorite this past year and she’ll be back for the 2023 Tournament of Champions.
If she wins, it would make Daily Double-history as two trans contestants would win in a row- 2022’s champ being Amy, of course.
Hannah revealed on stage she’s the 18th ranked crossword puzzle solver in the U.S. and second in the midwest behind a man named “Eric.”
She also scored attention from Amy as her impressive streak was airing.
Amy – the winner of 2022’s Tournament of Champions – took to Twitter on May 4, 2023, to gush about her chops.
“Huge congratulations to Hannah Wilson!!! Welcome to the Guild of Jeopardy Champion Trans Women, one of us will be in contact shortly to explain the secret handshake and so forth,” Schneider wrote.
Hannah then wrote on Reddit: “Yeah I’m trans! Amy was kind of acting as my press agent there, haha.”
Hannah told Jeopardy! after her streak about Amy: “She actually kind of inspired me to try out because I’m trans.
“She was like this amazing champion and she showed that, you know, she could just be out there. That was really important to me.”
Hannah wound up losing to 9-day and $252,600 winner Ben Chan in a rare scheduling move in which Ben exited mid-streak having contracted Covid-19.
When he returned, he was pitted against Hannah in a “co-returning champions” scenario that unfortunately led to Hannah’s losing.
Hannah however, admitted on Reddit: “I couldn’t ask for a better opponent to get utterly thrashed by!”
The pair also met up in Chicago for a recent trivia night proving there were no hard feelings on the board.
Ken, 49, and actress Mayim Bialik, 47, officially took over for the late, great Alex Trebek as hosts in 2022.
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