“Jeopardy!” winner Matt Amodio set the record for having the second-longest win streak of all time with a record-breaking 38 consecutive games.
However, it wasn’t enough to break the win streak of “Jeopardy!” G.O.A.T. and current host Ken Jennings, who won an insurmountable total of 74 straight games in 2004.
In a recent Newsweek article, Amodio recently revealed what life after “Jeopardy!” has been like. Although he’s still getting marriage proposals at the same frequency as when he was on the show, he reveals that his dating game has definitely improved along with his confidence.
However, he does have one big regret in his “Jeopardy!” career, and it has to do with Jennings.
Matt Amodio Never Achieved His ‘Jeopardy’ Dream Of Beating Ken Jennings
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A week before his win streak ended, Amodio published a Newsweek article claiming that his ultimate goal was to “win $1 more than Ken Jennings.”
Although Amodio is definitely ambitious, it was always unlikely. Although Amodio took home a handsome payday of $1,518,601 dollars, Jennings holds the record for highest winnings from regular season play with $2,520,700.
Another “Jeopardy!” champion, James Holzhauer, also beat Matt’s total. Despite only winning 32 games to Amodio’s 38, Holzhauser took home a whopping total of $2,462,216 won, just under Jennings’ total.
None of them have come close to unseating former champion Brad Rutter, who has accumulated almost five million dollars in winnings due to his successful tournament runs.
Matt Amodio Reveals His Biggest Jeopardy Regret
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Although several guest hosts had the opportunity to personally oversee Amodio’s win streak, Amodio has never actually met Jennings in person, as his winning streak ended while “The Big Bang Theory” star Mayim Bialik was still taking over for former executive producer Mike Richards, who was fired from the show after making insensitive comments about women and minorities.
“I loved being on Jeopardy! but one of the biggest regrets I have is missing out on meeting Ken Jennings,” Amodio said.
“If I had kept winning a little bit, I would have made some more money and had some more fame, but really, I would have gotten to meet Ken as host. That’s always going to be hard. I’m holding out hope that whether it’s on the Jeopardy! stage or somewhere else, at some point our paths will cross. And the harder that path is, the more winds and turns it has, the sweeter the endpoint will be.”
It has yet to be revealed who will host the Tournament of Champions in 2022, so it is possible that Amodio and Jennings will still be able to share the “Jeopardy!” stage sometime soon.
Amodio will return along with the man who ended his winning streak, Jonathan Fisher, who won 10 games of his own. Joining them is current champion Amy Schneider, who is one of the first openly trans champions in the show’s decades-long history.
A permanent host for the show has yet to be announced. Jennings has been hosting the show’s regular gameplay for the past few weeks, but Bialik has been selected to host the show’s first-ever Professor’s Tournament, which will begin on December 6 and end on December 17, 2021.
