After winning her first “Jeopardy!” game, Mattea Roach was just excited to have earned enough money to pay off her student loans.
“I’m hoping to go back to school,” she said after the victory. “So there will be more. But now I start from zero.”
Several games later, and Roach now has a lot more to put toward her education than she initially expected. On May 4, the 23-year-old tutor who lives in Toronto, Canada, secured her 22nd “Jeopardy!” victory — bringing her total earnings (so far) to $534,984, according to “Jeopardy!” archives.
Roach is officially a “Jeopardy!” Hall of Famer — and the youngest super champion in the show’s history, according to Good Morning America. With her 21st win, she has surpassed Julia Collins and is fifth in all-time consecutive wins on “Jeopardy!” With her 22nd win, she has now surpassed Jason Zuffranieri for highest winnings in regular season play and is ranked No. 5 — behind “Jeopardy!” host Ken Jennings, James Holzhauer and two super champions from this current season: Matt Amodio and Amy Schneider.
This season of “Jeopardy!” has been one for the books. Roach is one of four contestants this season to reach at least 10 victories. And she’ll be competing in the upcoming Tournament of Champions against a few ocf those contestants, including 40-game winner Schneider and 38-game winner Amodio.
“This has been such a crazy season of streaks,” Roach told “Jeopardy!” after her 12th win. “I was fully thinking, ‘You know, Amy might still be here. If it’s not Amy, there’s going to be some other super-champion that’s just going to knock me out game one.’ And then, I guess what I didn’t realize is maybe I could become the super champion I wanted to see in the world.”
Roach will go for her 23nd win on Thursday. Visit the Deseret News for more on her historic “Jeopardy!” run.