With his 13th straight victory in Friday’s episode, Matt Amodio is entering his name among the all-time greats on “Jeopardy!”
The graduate student from New Haven, Connecticut, is now sixth all time in the show’s history in consecutive games won. His $430,200 in winnings rank him fifth 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 last week, 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.
As sportscaster Joe Buck takes over the guest hosting duties next week, Amodio will look to move up the “Jeopardy!” leaderboard.
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 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
James Holzhauer in 2019: 32 games
Julia Collins in 2014: 20 games
Jason Zuffranieri in 2019: 19 games
David Madden in 2005: 19 games
Matt Amodio in 2021: 13 games
Matt Jackson in 2015: 13 games
Highest winnings (regular-season play)
Ken Jennings: $2.52 million
James Holzhauer: $2.46 million
Jason Zuffranieri: $532,496
David Madden: $430,400
Matt Amodio: $430,200
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