Jeopardy! champion Amy Schneider. (Twitter/ Jeopardy!)
Trans Jeopardy! star Amy Schneider has celebrated her amazing winning streak on the game show by opening up about the tremendous impact she has already had.
After winning 32 games and amassing over $1 million, Schneider has become the most successful woman in Jeopardy! history. She has become the fifth person to win over a million in Jeopardy! history, joining Brad Rutter, Ken Jennings, James Holzhauer and Matt Amodio in the Jeopardy! Hall of Fame.
However, with fame comes increased attention, and Amy Schneider has been on the receiving end of transphobic and misogynistic harassment online. Despite this, she is keen to emphasise that most messages have been supportive.
As an openly trans woman on TV, she hopes to use her visibility to create positive change. On Twitter, Schneider came across a post detailing how her TV presence helped to teach an elderly man how to be more accepting of transgender people. According to Schneider, this was “one of the best things I could hear”.
In an interview with NPR, she recalls reading this: “After two to three years of conversation, you being on Jeopardy! every night has taught my dad to be accepting of trans people. You’re the first person he’s used correct pronouns with, an 83-year-old man saying, this isn’t too hard.”
Previously, Amy Schneider has talked about why being a visible trans woman on TV is so powerful for her.
In an op-ed for Newsweek, she wrote: “I hope I have given them [transgender folks] the opportunity to see a trans person succeed. Until very recently trans people didn’t see themselves doing much out in the world, so to actually see something like this happen really opens your mind up to possibilities.”
As one of her supporters put it succinctly, “transgender representation matters”.
Hey guess what! Amy Schneider now has 32 wins and ties James Holzhauer for third all time!
She’s amazing, and that an intelligent woman will be enshrined in Jeopardy History and we STILL get to see her every single day is so incredible. Transgender representation matters. pic.twitter.com/xau73nfuzh
— Erin, Trail Mom (@ErinInTheMorn) January 14, 2022
Recently, Amy Schneider also took to Twitter to thank her supporters, writing: “This has been a life-changing experience, thank you all so so much for your kindness and support.”
I’ll get back to the backlogged game threads tomorrow. But I just want to acknowledge how overwhelmed I am by the things being written about me, and about what this run means. This has been a life-changing experience, thank you all so so much for your kindness and support ❤️
— Amy Schneider (@Jeopardamy) January 8, 2022