Matt Amodio’s historic ‘Jeopardy!’ streak ends. See what question ended his run
Matt Amodio, who won 38 straight games on “Jeopardy!” dating back to August, saw his historic streak come to an end Monday.
His 38 consecutive wins trailed only Ken Jennings, who won 74 straight in 2004. Amodio won $1,518,601, which was behind only Jennings and James Holzhauer.
“Everybody’s so smart and so competent that this could happen any game,” Amodio said in a news release. “And this time it did.”
Jonathan Fisher, an actor originally from Coral Gables, Florida, defeated Amodio in Monday’s episode. Amodio came in third, with Nashville’s Jessica Stephens also coming out on top of the former champion.
In the “Final Jeopardy!” round between the three contestants, Fisher and Stephens correctly responded “What is Austria?” to the clue, “Nazi Germany annexed this nation & divided it into regions of the Alps & the Danube; the allies later divided it into 4 sectors.” Amodio gave an incorrect response.
This year began with the allure of guest hosts on “Jeopardy!” followed by controversy when the show’s executive producer Mike Richards was briefly named as the new permanent host. But as Mayim Bialik took over hosting duties and Amodio shined in his two victorious months, the spotlight was once again on the contestants.
Amodio, who often worded answers to questions with “what’s” regardless of the question, sometimes annoyed viewers with his approach. He remained compelling to viewers though, as he bet big on Daily Doubles, often building insurmountable leads on his competition in the process.
A fifth-year Computer Science Ph.D candidate at Yale University, Amodio will leave a legacy as one of the show’s fiercest competitors. He’ll return for the next “Tournament of Champions,” the show announced Monday.
“I always wanted to be a ‘Jeopardy!’ champion, and I accomplished that,” Amodio said. “l know going into every bar trivia game that I play that I’m going to come in with a little intimidation factor. But also, I just like the badge that it represents. As somebody who prioritizes knowledge and knowing things, this is really a good one to have following me everywhere.”
