Jeopardy!'s Amy Schneider Makes History as First Openly Trans 'Tournament of Champions' Winner

Amy Schneider continued her historic Jeopardy! run this week when she won the Tournament of Champions final. 

The Oakland, California writer is the first openly transgender contestant to take home the top prize. She beat out fellow players Andrew He and Sam Buttrey after a lengthy competition, nabbing victory for three final games. Schneider entered Final Jeopardy with $15,600 compared to He's $14,200 and Buttrey's $8,000, correctly answering the final clue - "The January 12, 1864 Washington Evening Star reported on a performance of this 'dashing comedy' to 'a full and delighted house'" - with "What is Our American Cousin?". 

He also answered correctly, but his smaller wager - just $2,801 - landed him in second place by the time the game had come to a close. Schneider's victory earned her the $250,000 grand prize, while He took home $100,000, and Buttrey $50,000. 

"I feel amazing," Schneider gushed after her win. "Earlier in the finals, I had this sudden moment of seeing myself and being like 'I'm on stage in the Tournament of Champions finals,' and that was crazy. And I won! It’s a great feeling."

"Any of the three of us really could have won if a very small number of things had gone differently," she added. "I'm glad we got a really fair chance to test our skills against each other, and I'd love to play him again someday, somehow."

Earlier this year, Schneider earned a spot as one of Jeopardy's most successful players of all time with a 40-game winning streak. 

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