AMY Schenider has been booted off Jeopardy! In a surprising change of events, Masters.
The 40-time winner and 2022 Tournament of Champions champion finished fifth in the special despite without winning a single match.
Jeopardy! The Masters, which has allowed six fan favorites back, wrapped off its second of three must-see weeks on Wednesday.
The titans-only competition, hosted by Ken Jennings, 48, pits six great players against each other for a $500,000 grand prize.
Each night at 8 p.m. ET, variations of the popular players compete in two sets of three in one-hour programs on ABC and Hulu.
The Semifinals were decided using the checkmark method in tonight’s matches, and the two lowest-ranking players were eliminated.
First, Sam Buttrey was defeated by Matt Amodio and Mattea Roach–he was rated lowest, and he and Matt Amodio had a beautiful hug.
Amy faced Andrew He and self-described game show villain James Holzhauer in the second remaining quarter-finals match.
Amy even stated that things weren’t looking good, hinting that she wouldn’t be sharing any more on-stage experiences after tonight.
And presenter Ken didn’t hold back, mentioning how Amy had finished second five times in a row but had never won a match.
Some fans claimed Amy was set up to fail by being pitted against the two top-seeded players – Andrew and James- when she needed a win most.
“They want Matt to win and of course Amy has to face Andrew and James,” one fan Tweeted.
“Oh man, Amy is going against Andrew and James? That…is bad for her,” another Reddit user wrote.
“Oh dang. Amy got screwed,” wrote a third.
A fourth spotted that because Amodio jumped three “match points” after his win in the first game of the night making him technically uncatchable and in third place overall, her fate was sealed.
“If Matt wins Amy is out. It hurts to root against Matt, but damn I want Amy to still have a chance…”
“They should have let amy go first now her game is meaningless,” claimed another.
“I LOVE AMY. I’m so devastated for her” wrote a fifth.
Another fan wrote: “I love Amy so this is no dig but I think part of the problem was her buzzer technique.
“If you look at her arm during her games you can see it moving when she buzzes.
“Compared to James who holds his arms in front and stabilizes his wrist. She’s losing time it looks like by that technique. But that’s just from observing and not looking at any data from the games! Was really rooting for her.”
Another said: “At least Amy won the ToC. Matt has been shafted so many times, from his 38-game winning streak getting overshadowed by Amy’s 40-win streak, to not being the MVP of Jeopardy! Honors, and then not making the finals of the TOC due to a really tough semi-finals match-up.
Amy has won a total of $1,382,800 (plus $250K from the ToC) from her time on Jeopardy! and is now the highest-earning female from the show.
In November 2021, Amy Schneider set the record for being the first transgender person to qualify for the Tournament of Champions with “the second-longest winning streak in the quiz show’s history,” according to NBC News- only behind host Ken.
AND THEN THERE WERE FOUR
The standings are now as follows:
- 1st: James Holzhauer (15 points, 4 wins)
- 2nd: Andrew He (12 points, 2 wins)
- 3rd: Matt Amodio (9 points, 3 wins)
- 4th: Mattea Roach (9 points, 2 wins)
- Eliminated: Amy Schneider (5 points, 0 wins)
- Eliminated: Sam Buttrey (3 points, 0 wins)
The remaining schedule is as follows:
- Monday, May 22: 2 Semi-finals matches
- Tuesday, May 23: 2 Semi-finals matches with one more champ eliminated
- Wednesday, May 24: Finals
Jeopardy! Masters is the brainchild of new executive producer, Michael Davies and is the first champion-based producer-picked tournament since 2020’s $1M GOAT tournament.
The throwdown is intended to determine the best player in any given year, a belt notch higher than the Tournament of Champions (which only features contestants from the prior season).
The top four players will advance to compete in more pairings during week three.
In the semi-finals, the remaining four players will face off in different groups of three while one contestant sits out per match.
Then the top three will go head-to-head in the Finals on Wednesday, May 24.
Masters will air while Ken’s co-successor to Alex Trebek, Mayim Bialik, finishes out the regular season starting on May 1 and until the summer.