Amy Schneider’s historic 40-game winning streak on “Jeopardy!” has come to an end.
On Wednesday’s episode, the engineering manager from Oakland, California, lost to Rhone Talsma, a Chicago librarian, just days after making news for becoming the quiz show’s second all-time winner.
During the final round of the episode, she was leading against her competitor, per NPR.
- Then it came to the final clue.
- The category was “Countries of the World” and the clue was: “The only nation in the world whose name in English ends in an H, it’s also one of the 10 most populous.”
- Schneider could not come up with an answer. But Talsma promptly said: “What is Bangladesh?”
That was the correct response, allowing him to finish in first place with a score of $29,600.
- Schneider was saddened by her loss, however inevitable. “Rhone and I were both looking for that last Daily Double,” she said, per USA Today. “And he, quite rightly, obviously made the decision to bet it all. ... Once he did that, I knew it was going to come down to ‘Final Jeopardy!’ I knew that I had been struggling a little bit with ‘Final Jeopardy!’ recently, and so I knew I was in trouble.”
- “This is my favorite show,” said Talsma who was shocked by the victory, per the report. “I was so excited to be here, and I just wanted to do my best. I did not expect to be facing a 40-day champion, and I was excited to maybe see someone else slay the giant. I just really didn’t think it was going to be me, so I’m thrilled.”
Schneider, with her 40-game winning streak, trails Ken Jennings, and his 74-game winning streak, as previously reported by Deseret News.