'Jeopardy!' Star Matt Amodio Responds to Critics of His 'Annoying' Habit

Adrienne Westenfeld
·2 min read
Photo credit: Courtesy
Photo credit: Courtesy

Eight days and $291,200 later, Matt Amodio has lodged himself in the pantheon of Jeopardy!’s top ten highest-winning champions of all time—but still, everyone’s a critic. Despite the tremendous accomplishment of being crowned a top Jeopardy! champion, Amodio has also been crowned the show's "most annoying contestant of all time," according to some. After fans slammed Amodio for his unusual habit of buzzing in with answers formatted with the word “what’s” rather than “what is” or “who is,” Amodio has graciously sounded off in response to his critics.

“I don't necessarily want to say too much about that,” Amodio told Entertainment Weekly. “I guess I just want to say that I hope nobody's offended by it. I do hear some people say that it's disrespectful to the game, and I would counter that if there was a Jeopardy! fan club ranking, I think I would have a strong case to be number one Jeopardy! fan. I live and breathe the show, I love every aspect of it, and so I'm definitely not doing it out of any disrespect or undermining of the show.”

After last week’s episodes of Jeopardy!, hosted by LeVar Burton, wrapped with Amodio still the champion, Amodio cheekily nudged his critics on Twitter, writing, “If you would enjoy watching a #jeopardy game with 100% less me, a reminder: check your local listings for some awesome weekend re-runs!”

Armchair critics on Twitter can squawk all they want, but try as they might, their tweets can’t take one thing from Amodio: the mantle of Jeopardy! champion.

“The idea of just saying ‘Jeopardy champion’—once I won once, they call you a Jeopardy champion, and that moniker stays with me forever,” Amodio said. “I'll try not to correct people too often when they address me as ‘Matt Amodio’ and say, ‘That's Jeopardy! champion Matt Amodio to you.’ But I'll know that that always applies, and that's just a tremendous source of pride for me.”

Whenever Amodio’s hot streak ends, as all Jeopardy! hot streaks do, it won’t mark the last Jeopardy! viewers see of him. Amodio, a PhD candidate in computer science at Yale University, will return for next season’s Jeopardy! Tournament of Champions, which will pit him against other top-scoring champions for a prize of $250,000. If you’re one of the vocal Twitter users who has spoken out about Amodio’s style of play, get comfortable, because this champion isn’t going anywhere.

You Might Also Like