‘Jeopardy!’ Contestant Matt Amodio Surpasses James Holzhauer For 2nd-Longest Winning Lumber
Topline
Matt Amodio scored his 33rd consecutive receive on Jeopardy! on Friday, making the Yale College Ph.D. pupil — whose money winnings high $1.2 million — the 2d-longest working contestant within the quiz level to’s history.
Matt Amodio
Key Facts
Amodio surpassed James Holzhauer’s 32-day profitable flow from 2019.
Amodio also modified into the third Jeopardy! contestant to receive over $1 million in extra special-season play final week, becoming a member of Jennings and Holzhauer.
Sizable Quantity
$1,267,801. That’s Amodio’s complete winnings all around the final 33 days. By comparison, Jennings’ lengthy profitable flow netted him $2,520,700, and Holzhauer’s aggressive form of play earned him $2,462,216, now no longer including prizes from Jeopardy! tournaments.
Contra
Jeopardy! has aired on syndicated TV for a long time, however the period of seven-figure payouts and long profitable streaks began after 2003, when the level to lifted its 5-day cap on winnings. Some older contestants are absent from the level to’s no longer new format leaderboard which potential: Brad Rutter firstly regarded on Jeopardy! in 2000, but he’s raked in virtually $5 million on special event presentations since then, greater than any quite heaps of contestant in level to history.
Key Background
Amodio stories computer science at Yale, but U.S. history is the 30-year-aged Ohio native’s toddle-to subject, he mentioned in an August interview on Yale’s web page. Recent pop culture — including television, motion photos and music — is a weaker build, he’s informed interviewers. Amodio attributed a couple of of his trivia knowledge to an nearly-nightly ritual of Wikipedia binges. “I veritably fall into Wikipedia holes. I don’t know how folk won knowledge sooner than Wikipedia, alternatively it’s very easy now,” he informed native data outlet Cleveland.com in July.
Tangent
Jeopardy! has faced a turbulent year. Longtime host Alex Trebek died in November, and the level to started 2021 by rotating by draw of greater than a dozen guest hosts. Sony Photos eventually handed major web hosting responsibilities to Mike Richards — the level to’s govt producer — in August, but Richards without notice departed Jeopardy! upright weeks later, after data outlet The Ringer unearthed offensive comments he made on a podcast a couple of years within the past. Jennings and actress Miyam Bialik, both of whom served as have-in hosts, are now slated to separate web hosting responsibilities till the terminate of the calendar year.
Supreme-attempting Truth
Despite the host turmoil, Jeopardy! has drawn reasonably trim audiences. Virtually 8.4 million viewers tuned into the level to for the length of potentially the most well-known week of its 38th season in mid-September, falling reasonably at the help of Family Feud, basically basically based on facts from Nielsen. The level to averaged 8.2 million viewers over the identical week final year, Vulture reported.
Additional Reading
‘Jeopardy!’ Has A Contemporary Million-Buck Champion In Matt Amodio (Forbes)