Amy Schneider is now not only the first out transgender person to compete in Jeopardy!’s Tournament of Champions, she is the first to win it.Schneider claimed the title in the episode that aired Monday.
Under a new system this year, the winner of the tournament was the first finalist to win three games. Schneider accomplished that against fellow finalists Andrew He and Sam Buttrey.“I feel amazing,” Schneider said after her win, according to a press release from the show’s producers. “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.”Schneider, a former software engineer who is now a writer living in Oakland, Calif., won the $250,000 grand prize.
He, a software developer from San Francisco, won two finals games and took home $100,000 for second place. Buttrey, an associate professor at the Naval Postgraduate School from Pacific Grove, Calif., won one game of the finals, coming in third and winning $50,000.Schneider emerged victorious despite finding no Daily Doubles in the final game; Buttrey found all three but still trailed both Schneider and He going into Final Jeopardy!