‘Jeopardy!’ champion Matt Amodio is now the third-highest winner ever

Yahoo Entertainment
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Matt Amodio has done it yet again. The current Jeopardy! champion won his 17th straight game on Thursday, only this time the victory officially enters his name into the conversation with the two names that are synonymous with Jeopardy! Dominance: Ken Jennings and James Holzhauer.

Amodio officially passed Jason Zuffranieri on the list, who earned his money with a 19-game win streak back in 2019. And now, Amodio is chasing two guys who both have well over $2 million in earnings, starting with Holzhauer who has exactly $1,914,616 more than Amodio.

Amodio’s victory Thursday was made especially interesting for fans because, as guest host Joe Buck pointed out during the show, for the first time in more than ten games it wasn’t a runaway heading into Final Jeopardy. And that’s because Amodio’s fellow competitor, Ruth Reichard, trailed by only $9,400. Unfortunately for Reichard, she got the question wrong and Amodio got it right, but it was enough drama to get viewers excited.

Video Transcript

JOE BUCK: What was your wager? $12,000. That brings you today to $42,400. Again, you are jeopardy champion, and new 17-day total, $547,600.

KYLIE MAR: Jeopardy champion Matt Amodeo has done it again, winning his 17th straight game. Only this time the victory officially enters him into the conversation with "Jeopardy" royalty.

JOE BUCK: You are now number three on the all-time list with regard to earnings in the regular season, behind only Ken Jennings and James Holzhauer. Let that sink in.

KYLIE MAR: Matt passed Jason Zuffranieri on the list, who earned his money with a 19-game win streak back in 2019. And now Matt is chasing two guys who have well over $2 million in earnings, starting with James Holzhauer, who has over $1.9 million more than Matt.

Viewers on Twitter took notice of Matt's big night, especially because he got a bit of a scare from fellow competitor Ruth. She trailed by only $9,400 heading into Final Jeopardy, but got the final question wrong and Matt got it right. One fan tweeted, "The ending to tonight's game was crazy. I was cheering.

Matt always find some way to come through when it gets tough. Congratulations on placing third in all-time earnings." And current guest host Joe Buck took a moment at the top of the show to recognize Matt's run as well by referencing Alex Trebek's book, "The Answer Is."

JOE BUCK: One of the many things that he learned when he was standing on this side is that this side is for the host. These are the stars of jeopardy, and we have some star on display here for the past two plus weeks.