‘Jeopardy!’ champ Matt Amodio eclipses $1 million in winnings. Who has won more money?
With his 37th straight victory in Thursday’s episode, Matt Amodio continues to move his name up among the all-time greats on “Jeopardy!”
The graduate student from New Haven, Connecticut, is second all time in the show’s history in consecutive games won. His $1,467,801 in winnings ranks him third of all time.
“If you get too much in a rut, you might start making mistakes. I’ve tried to keep it fresh each time,” Amodio said in a news release for the show.
Amodio, who often bets big on Daily Doubles, has been assured of a victory before most Final Jeopardy rounds because he led by so much money.
But he’s not without some controversy. His use of “what’s” instead of “what is” when answering questions forced the game show to say, yes, the way he is wording his answers is “totally acceptable.”
Many people, pointed out in an Esquire article recently, have dubbed him an annoying contestant because of his wording.
“Diehard #jeopardy fans like me carry a copy of the official rules at all times, anyway,” Amodio responded.
He has a ways to go to catch Ken Jennings in both consecutive games and highest winnings in regular-season play. Jennings, considered by many to be the show’s best contestant in its long history, won 74 straight games in 2004 and took home $2.5 million.
James Holzhauer won 32 straight games in 2019, the benchmark Amodio passed on Oct. 1, and nearly came close to beating Jennings’ winnings record with $2.46 million. Holzhauer has the 10 highest single-game winnings.
Here’s a look at the leaderboards.
Consecutive games won:
Ken Jennings in 2004: 74 games
Matt Amodio in 2021: 37 games
James Holzhauer in 2019: 32 games
Julia Collins in 2014: 20 games
Jason Zuffranieri in 2019: 19 games
David Madden in 2005: 19 games
Highest winnings (regular-season play)
Ken Jennings: $2,520,700
James Holzhauer: $2,462,216
Matt Amodio: $1,467,801
Jason Zuffranieri: $532,496
David Madden: $430,400
This story was originally published August 6, 2021 at 7:31 PM with the headline "‘Jeopardy!’ champ Matt Amodio eclipses $1 million in winnings. Who has won more money?."