What is Our American Cousin? That’s the question that won Amy Schneider the Tournament of Champions on Monday’s episode of "Jeopardy!"
The clue: the January 12, 1864 Washington evening star reported on a performance of this “dashing comedy” to “a full and delighted house.”
Schneider went into the final round with $15,600 while her nearest competitor, Andrew He, had $14,200. He got the answer right, giving him the lead. So it all came down to Schneider’s final response since He just needed one more game to win the championship.
On Friday’s episode Schneider played conservatively with her final wager allowing the third competitor to win the game. On Monday she didn’t make the same mistake with a $13,000 wager giving her, her third win and the championship.
It was a rematch for Schneider and He who first played against each other during He’s initial run of the show winning five games. He played Schneider during his sixth game and lost in a close final as well.
In order to take home the championship and $250,000 grand prize a player has to win the best of seven games in the finals. Schneider won her third game Monday. He won two games and Sam Buttrey won one game.
Schneider, a trans woman, is best known for her historic run on “Jeopardy!” earlier this year where she won 40 games in a row. She is the first trans person to participate in the Tournament of Champions.
She ended her first run with $1,382,800, which placed her in fourth place for the highest winnings in regular-season play. She is also the first and only woman to top $1 million.
This year LGBT contestants have done exceptionally well on the long-running game show. Besides Schneider, Mattea Roach, a lesbian, won 23 games earlier this year and also took part in the tournament of champions. Rowan Ward, a non-binary contestant, won the game show’s first-ever Second Chance Tournament giving them a spot in the tournament of champions.
Roach lost in the semifinals to He while Ward lost in the quarter-finals.
Because of Schneider’s visibility she’s visited the White House and attended the annual White House correspondents dinner since her historic winning streak. But she’s also faced a lot of transphobia online since appearing on the show.
“I’d like to thank all the people who have taken the time, during this busy holiday season, to reach out and explain to me that, actually, I’m a man,” Schneider previously tweeted. “Every single one of you is the first person ever to make that very clever point, which had never once before crossed my mind.”
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