Amy Schneider Gets Ovation at Warriors Game as 'Jeopardy!' Success Continues
Amy Schneider got a taste of the celebrity status her Jeopardy! success has afforded her on Sunday when she received an ovation at an NBA game.
The engineering manager was among the crowd cheering on Golden State Warriors, who hosted Cleveland Cavaliers at their new home at the Chase Center in San Francisco.
And as home fans welcomed back Klay Thompson after a more than two-year injury absence, they also celebrated the presence of special guest Schneider, whose record-breaking Jeopardy! run continues to captivate fans.
Schneider, who has been based in nearby Oakland for several years after relocating from her native Ohio, watched as the Warriors secured a 96-82 victory. It was Schneider's first visit to the venue.
"It is unbelievable I hadn't made it to the Chase Center yet with the pandemic and I've been wanting to, coming on this day has just been amazing," she told local ABC affiliate KGO-TV.
Sporting a Steph Curry jersey at the game, Schneider went on to inform the outlet that she was a Warriors fan before the team rose to become a dominating force.
"He's the reason I got into the warriors in the first place, I got out to the Bay Area in 2009 I didn't have an NBA team," she explained.
Schneider has made history since her Jeopardy! debut during Trans Awareness Week, becoming the first transgender woman to qualify for the Tournament of Champions.
Since then, she has gone on to achieve the longest win streak of any woman to have competed on the show in its entire history, as well as the first to pass the $1 million mark—a feat she was seen achieving Friday night's installment.
On Monday night, Schneider, a University of Dayton alum, was seen clocking her 29th consecutive victory as she also increased her winnings to $1,035,400.
During her interview with KGO-TV, she spoke about how she has helped change perceptions of transgender women through her success on the show.
"It's incredible," she said. "I'm not just hearing from other trans people but from parents and grandparents of trans people. For me to go out and do something so normal as Jeopardy!, I think it really changes a lot of people's minds."
Concluding her interview with words of advice, Schneider told the outlet: "Keep being yourself, don't let one part of you limit the other part of you, you can be everything at once. You don't have to pick and choose."
Schneider has edged her way up the all-time leader board in a run that now sees her with the fourth-longest win streak, behind Ken Jennings (74 wins), Matt Amodio (38), and James Holzhauer (32).
She is also in fourth place with cash earned in regular season play, behind Jennings ($2,520,700), Holzhauer ($2,462,216), and Amodio ($1,518,601).
The quiz whiz had previously stated that she has her sights set on surpassing Holzhauer's win streak, telling Jeopardy! in a behind-the-scenes interview shared in November.
"I'd like to beat James Holzhauer, I think," she said. "He seems very confident, I guess I'll say. And so it would sort of feel good, I think, in a way."
