Dayton native Amy Schneider finished second in Game 1 and placed fifth overall during the third episode of the second annual “Jeopardy! Masters” tournament that aired Wednesday, May 8.
The Oakland, California writer and winner of the 2022 Tournament of Champions is among the super champs vying for trivia glory: reigning “Masters” winner James Holzhauer; Season 1 “Masters” finalists Matt Amodio and Mattea Roach; 2024 Tournament of Champions winner Yogesh Raut; and 2024 Invitational Tournament winner Victoria Groce. Schneider, the runner-up in the Invitational Tournament, was specifically chosen as a Producers Pick.
Over the course of three weeks, nine one-hour episodes will feature two games among different combinations of the contestants, resulting in a champion who will win a $500,000 grand prize and the “Jeopardy! Masters” title.
Wednesday’s episode featured Schneider against Raut, a cognitive and behavioral scientist from Vancouver, Washington, and Amodio, a quantitative researcher from New York, New York.
Benefitting from Raut and Amodio’s slow starts, Schneider, looking more assured and particularly more comfortable with her buzzer, began the Jeopardy! round smoothly out front, finishing in second with 4,600 points. She trailed Raut, who rebounded with 5,400, but led Amodio, who had 2,200.
During Double Jeopardy!, the impressive Raut dominated, raising his score to 36,400 points. Even so, Schneider remained steady, easing into second with 12,200 followed by Amodio with 7,200.
The Final Jeopardy! clue in the category The Theater:
“This show debuted December 30, 1879 in a theater on the Devon Coast, with the cast in costumes from a related show.”
Schneider correctly responded “The Pirates of Penzance,” wagered 2,201 and finished with 14,401. Amodio also answered correctly, wagered 7,200 and finished with 14,400. Raut did not respond or wager, leaving his total at 36,400.
During the interview portion, host Ken Jennings asked Schneider to reflect on her Dayton roots, particularly a song she wrote during her upbringing.
“I love Dayton, I’m proud of it, I also did move away from it eventually,” Schneider said. “So, I wrote a song that was hopefully, lovingly, mocking it.”
The lyrics:
“There are those who say that Kitty Hawk was the home of the Wright brothers
In Dayton we despise these folk more than any others
Detroit may have their bike shop and their plane is in D.C.
But Dayton’s got their corpses and that’s good enough for me.”
“It’s a good mnemonic for tourists to remember which sites they can see, apparently the Wright brothers grave,” Jennings said.
“It’s a very beautiful cemetery,” replied Schneider, referencing Woodland Cemetery.
The leaderboard at the end of the third episode: First: Groce (9); Second: Raut (7); Third: Holzhauer: (5); Fourth: Amodio: (1); Fifth: Schneider (1); and Sixth: Roach (1). The ranking takes into account the number of correct responses.
