Jeopardy has struggled to find the same sort of following after the death of Alex Trebek. Now the show is bringing back former champions to try to draw ratings once more.
On Wednesday, ABC announced that trivia mainstay Jeopardy! will be getting another prime-time championship title Jeopardy! Masters where the show pits the six highest-ranking contestants against each other. Current Jeopardy! host Ken Jennings and winner of the Jeopardy! The Greatest of All Time special will be hosting the event and therefore excluded from play.
The six contestants are Matt Amodio, Sam Buttrey, James Holzhauer, Mattea Roach, Andrew He, and Amy Schneider. Brad Rutter, who competed in the greatest of all time event with Jennings and Holzhauer is notably absent from the roster.
Amodio, Schneider, Holzhauer, and Roach all appear on Jeopardy’s own “Leaderboard of Legends” and are reasonable choices, although other contestants on the board outrank them. According to Variety, Sam Buttrey won a Professors Tournament in 2021 and Andrew He is a five-day champion from season 38. The same season in which Amy Schneider reigned supreme.
Amy Schneider and Matt Amodio to Compete Against Other Champs in New Jeopardy! Masters Series https://t.co/jNoeU1rbni
— People (@people) January 11, 2023
Amy Schneider is notable in that Schneider is the first openly transgender person to qualify for Jeopardy’s Tournament of Champions, although according to CNN Schneider is not the first trans Jeopardy champion. Schneider went on to win the 2021 Jeopardy! Tournament of Champions.
Schneider wore a transgender flag pin during a November 2021 episode of Jeopardy, an item which the show’s producers would have been fully aware of and endorsed in order for it to make it to broadcast.
https://mobile.twitter.com/Jeopardamy/status/1464356250880073728
In 2022, the Biden Administration hosted Schneider during their Transgender Day of Visibility celebration. The Biden Administration has been vocal in its support of “gender affirming care” for young people and linked in their Transgender Day of Visibility proclamation to a publication the Office of Health and Human Services that endorses the surgical transition of underage children.
On a video celebrating Amy Schneider tying female Jeopardy champion Julia Collins for a 20-win streak, Schneider explained that “Collins also won 20 games” while wearing a sweater, so Schneider felt it was appropriate to wear a sweater while tying her record.
Later in the video, Schneider would state:
“A lot of the great champions have had… almost like a gimmick you might say. Or something.”
According to several website including Freedom From Religion, Amy Schneider was born Thomas E. Schneider in 1979.
SOURCES
Biden Administration Transgender Fact Sheet https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2022/03/31/fact-sheet-biden-harris-administration-advances-equality-and-visibility-for-transgender-americans/
United States Office of Health And Human Services https://opa.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/2022-03/gender-affirming-care-young-people-march-2022.pdf
CNN https://www.cnn.com/2021/12/02/entertainment/amy-schneider-jeopardy-cec/index.html/
Freedom From Religion https://ffrf.org/ftod-cr/item/40399-amy-schneider
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