Yale’s Matt Amodio defeats CT competitor as ‘Jeopardy!’ winning streak continues
from the New Haven Register
Yale University PhD student Matthew Amodio has become an eight-day returning champion on television quiz show, “Jeopardy!” earning $52,000 on Tuesday night’s episode, and defeated Christina Leone of East Hartford. In his winning streak, Amodio has won $362,400.
Heading into the Final Jeopardy! round, Amodio’s earnings totaled $36,000 while Leone’s were $9,600. Both Amodio and Leone answered the final question correctly — Leone’s wager was enough for her to finish in second place, while Amodio’s $19,000 final wager earned him the victory.
“Once you [win] once, that’s just such a great accomplishment,” Amodio said. “Nobody can ever take that away from you.”
Amodio’s success on the show isn’t the only reason he’s garnered attention. “Jeopardy!” responded to social media chatter questioning his use of “What’s…” as a template for answering all prompts on the show. According to the show’s rules, all contestants must respond “in the form of a question,” which permits Amodio’s use of “What’s…” in all his answers. All contestants must continue to respond in the form of a question through the Double Jeopardy! round, according to the show’s rules, but in Final Jeopardy!, contestants are briefed on the game’s final steps, which “includes giving the contestants the appropriate ‘Who’ or ‘What’ for the final clue.”
Amodio’s winning streak kicked off on July 21, when the fifth-year PhD student from Cleveland, Ohio studying artificial intelligence made his debut in the competition with “Good Morning America” host Robin Roberts guest hosting the quiz show. Ahead of his first appearance on “Jeopardy!” Amodio told Hearst Connecticut while he’s a “lifelong ‘Jeopardy!’ watcher,” he never planned on auditioning.
“I have crippling self-doubt, as I think any healthy human being should,” he said. “My parents prodded me to do it, and I just took the online test more out of appeasing them than anything else. Lo and behold, I got an email back and I said, ‘OK, you’re right, it was a good idea.’”
The Yale contestant still has a long way to go before breaking any major “Jeopardy!” records. According to the show’s “Hall of Fame,” the most consecutive games won by a single contestant is 74, a record set by Ken Jennings during the 2004-2005 season. The record for the highest all-time winnings by a competitor participating in regular-season and tournament contest goes to Brad Rutter, who amassed cumulative winnings of $4,938,436.
Wednesday night’s episode airs at 7 p.m. on WTNH-TV (ABC).