Ken Jennings on the Jeopardy! stage

‘Jeopardy!’ Just Set Its Own TV Record!

Home / Entertainment / ‘Jeopardy!’ Just Set Its Own TV Record!

By Kristin Myers on January 16, 2022 at 6:57 AM PST

It seems fitting that, with current “Jeopardy!” champion Amy Schneider setting so many records, that the show would set some new records of its own!

According to recent data, “Jeopardy!” became the number one most-viewed non-sports show on television. Although “Jeopardy!” has consistently fallen behind “60 Minutes” for the last three decades, during the week of December 27 through January 2, enough fans finally tuned into the long-running “Jeopardy!” game show to finally beat “60 Minutes”!

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‘Jeopardy!’ Has Reached A New, Massive Audience!

Alex Trebek on the Jeopardy! stage
Instagram / jeopardy

According to Nielsen data, “Jeopardy!” has been putting up some impressive numbers. Since season 38 debuted on September 13, an average of 9.2 million viewers have been tuning in to watch “Jeopardy!” each night.

This edges out its main competitor, “60 Minutes,” with an average of 9.1 million viewers. ABC’s “World News Tonight” is in third place with 8.2 million viewers. Bringing up fourth place is the series “Yellowstone,” which averaged 7.9 million viewers.

Amy’s historic run hasn’t only been blazing the trail for female and trans contestants. It has also increased “Jeopardy!” viewership. According to Nielsen data, the show’s viewership has gone up about 3% per show, bringing in almost 250,000 additional viewers, since Amy started her run!

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Amy Schneider's Sets A New Record-Breaking Win Streak!

Amy Schneider
Instagram / jeopardy

Many fans are celebrating the success of current champion Amy Schneider, whose run has been nothing short of historic.

Amy became the first openly trans champion to qualify for the Tournament of Champions, which will premiere later this year.

In late December, she also became the woman with the highest total earnings in the game show's long history. She also became the woman with the longest win streak.

She also became the fifth millionaire in the show’s history, and the fourth to do so during regular gameplay. At that point, she had the fourth-longest win streak in the "Jeopardy!" Hall of Fame.

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Amy Schneider 3
Twitter / jeopardamy
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However, last Thursday, Amy Schneider tied with James Holzhauer and his win streak of 32 games. On Friday, she won in a landslide, taking her total to 33 games. This win gave her the third-longest win streak in "Jeopardy!" history.

Amy is now only a few short days away from tying and beating Matt Amodio and his second-place score of 38 games. Matt Amodio's record-breaking streak ended shortly after season 38 debuted in September 2021. It was the longest winning streak that fans had seen since James' run in 2019.

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Matt Amodio 2
Instagram / jeopardy

Although spending over a month on "Jeopardy!" is impressive, neither score holds a candle to the record set by current host Ken Jennings. In 2004, Ken won 74 games in a row and set an all-time high score that many feel can never be broken.

However, many fans have their fingers crossed that Amy, with her generally conservative wagers and sound grasp of etymology, will be able to finally take down Ken Jenning's high score!

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Amy Schneider Reveals How She Knows So Much!

Amy Schneider
Instagram / jeopardy

In a recent interview with USA Today, Amy Schneider revealed that she likes to spend her time searching the Internet for fun facts long before she appeared on the show!

Instead of binging Netflix shows, Amy says that she likes to search through Wikipedia articles to find out more information on subjects she may be unfamiliar with.

When it comes to the news, Amy's preferred source of information is the New York Times, although she also admitted to flipping through history books now and then.

Amy Schneider on Jeopardy!
Instagram / jeopardy
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Another website that Amy likes to spend time on is Defector, which focuses on culture and sports. If that's not enough, Amy also has a secret trick up her sleeve that many casual viewers of the show may not even know about!

One website that Amy frequents is J-Archive. The informative website was created by fans of the show and holds every question and answer that has appeared on the show since 1984! Fans can go back and play along to old episodes by themselves, or they can keep rifling through random "Final Jeopardy!" questions to brush up on their trivia acumen.

Amy Schneider becomes openly trans winner on Jeopardy! during trans awareness week
Instagram / jeopardy

“Jeopardy! covers such a wide range of things that I’m not sure it’s something you really can study for,” Amy said. “You just have to be living your life in such a way that you keep learning.”

However she does it, fans can't wait to see Amy Schneider return on Monday. Will she be able to keep up her winning streak and catch up to Matt Amodio? Fans can't wait to find out!

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