Matt Amodio’s Run Leaves Its Mark On ‘Jeopardy!’ Hall Of Fame

After an impressive run, "Jeopardy!" contestant Matt Amodio saw his winning streak come to an end after Monday's episode.

The Yale Ph.D. student from New Haven, Connecticut caused quite a controversy when he first appeared on the show a few months ago. His grammatically incorrect pronoun use when answering questions compelled "Jeopardy!" to break out the rule book and remind fans at home that the pronoun use does not matter as long as the answer is in the form of a question.

After 38 consecutive wins, Amodio seemed to struggle on Monday's episode and wound up placing third overall after failing to answer the final question correctly in the “Final Jeopardy!” round.

Amodio found himself competing against statistical research specialist Jessica Stephens, who ended the game with $28,799. Jonathan Fisher, an actor from Florida, performed well during the game. He scored all three of the game’s Daily Doubles and became the new "Jeopardy!" champion with a 1-day total of $29,200.

Amodio, who had $10,600 going into the Final Jeopardy! round, answered his question incorrectly and wagered $5,000, leaving him with a total of only $5,600 to end his final game.

The Final Jeopardy! question asked players to identify which nation Nazi Germany annexed and divided into regions of The Alps and The Danube before the Allies split it into four sectors. Amodio guessed "What is Poland?" Both Stephens and Fisher answered correctly with an answer of "What is Austria?"

Even though he didn't beat his goal of surpassing Ken Jenning's total by $1, Amodio came in third for cumulative prize money won during regular gameplay with a total of $1,518,601.

He currently sits behind James Holzhauer, who earned $2,462,216 during his 32-day consecutive win streak in 2019. Amodio also sits just above James for total consecutive games won, although it seems that Ken Jenning's 74-game win streak set in 2004 might prove to be an untouchable record.

However, Amodio still has a chance to move up the Hall of Fame leaderboard when it comes to cumulative game winnings, including tournament play. Amodio currently ranks fourth in this listing, whereas Brad Rutter ranks first with an impressive total of $4,938,436.

Amodio will appear in this season's Tournament of Champions, which brings back the highest-scoring contestants of the season for a chance at "Jeopardy!" redemption.

As for Amodio, he is happy just to have gotten a chance to appear on the "Jeopardy!" stage, calling it "a dream come true."

In a statement, Amodio said that he "always wanted to be a ‘Jeopardy!’ champion, and I accomplished that. 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."

He continued, "As somebody who prioritizes knowledge and knowing things, this is really a good one to have following me everywhere.”