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Transgender woman Amy Schneider became the new Jeopardy! champion on Wednesday in the middle of Trans Awareness Week.
The engineering manager from Oakland, California, ended the run of five-time winner Andrew He when she became the sole contestant to answer the “Final Jeopardy” clue correctly.
Schneider ended the episode with $31,600 in winnings after answering “Manhattan” to the clue: “A cemetery on this island has the graves of Robert Fulton and 2 of the first 4 treasury secretaries.”
After the episode aired, Schneider posted on Twitter to remind fans that she is not the first transgender woman to compete on the hit quiz show.
She wrote: “FYI, I am not the first out trans person to appear on Jeopardy (a few friends have asked). There have been a handful before, including one, Kate Freeman, who was the first out trans champion on 12/16/20. My thanks to all of them for blazing the trail!”
As well as tweeting details about the strategy she employed to defeat He, Schneider also revealed that her debut on the show didn’t come without one “super embarrassing” mishap.
“Literally a few seconds before taping started, I spilled water down the front of my top,” she wrote. “The whole thing had to come to a halt while the wardrobe person tried to blot it off.
“It was super embarrassing, and I felt guilty for holding up the entire production. But I had to put it out of my mind, so I decided to treat it as a good omen.”
A number of fans replied to Schneider’s tweets to point out that her victory came during Trans Awareness Week, which began on November 13 and ends with the Transgender Day of Remembrance on November 20.
Schneider also revealed on Wednesday evening that her Jeopardy! win was all the more momentous for her, because she had been trying to get on the show for 10 years.
“Finally, I can’t emphasize enough how fantastic each and every person on the Jeopardy crew was!” she added. “It was such a stressful experience, and without them I don’t think I (or any of us!) would have been able to enjoy it as much as we did. Thank you!!!”
After the game, she said, outgoing champion He “told me I was ‘terrifying’ to play against. Coming from such a great player, that gave me a ton of confidence for my next game. Was it justified? Tune in tomorrow to find out how I find transsexual dates in my area.”
Jeopardy! is currently hosted by the show’s all-time champion Ken Jennings, who is sharing presenting duties with Mayim Bialik for the remainder of the year. Producers have yet to announce a new permanent successor to the much-loved Alex Trebek, who died in November 2020, after the Mike Richards debacle.
