Amy Schneider makes 'Jeopardy!' history as highest-earning woman and consecutive wins

"Jeopardy!" contestant Amy Schneider is making history as the show's highest-earning woman.

Schneider has officially won 21 consecutive games, the most by a woman in the show's history. Schneider surpassed contestant Julia Collins's record set in 2014 of 20 consecutive wins.

She also set a new record for highest all-time earnings for a woman in regular-season play and all-time play -- even without participating in tournaments. Her winnings thus far have totaled $806,000, exceeding Larissa Kelly's record of $655,930.

Schneider is now in fourth place for most winnings in regular-season play behind only Ken Jennings, James Holzhauer and recent champ Matt Amodio. For their regular-season play earnings, Jennings won $2,520,700, Holzhauer won $2,462,216 and Amodio won $1,518,601.

The reigning champ is also making headlines for being a trans woman, blazing a path on the quiz show in terms of visibility and representation -- but she doesn't want that to solely define her.

"Being trans is an important, huge foundational part of my identity and also, not," Schneider told The Daily Beast. "I'm not going on 'Jeopardy!' to be trans on 'Jeopardy!' I'm going on 'Jeopardy!' to try to win some money."

Schneider previously opened up about wearing a trans flag pin on the Thanksgiving episode and how it represented her identity "accurately," which she said was "as important, but also relatively minor."

Editor's Note: This story was originally published on December 21, 2021.