WASHINGTON — She is the most-awarded woman in "Jeopardy!" history and one of only four people to surpass $1 million in regular-season winnings. But after 40 games, engineering manager Amy Schneider's historic winning-streak came to an end Wednesday after she fell to second place and failed to recover against opponent Rhone Thalsma, a librarian from Chicago.
Going into Final Jeopardy, Schneider had $27,600 to Thalsma's $17,600. The answer was, "The only nation in the world whose name in English ends in an H, it's also one of the 10 most populous."
Thalsma correctly wrote "What is Bangladesh?" He wagered $12,000 to climb to $29,600.
Schneider didn't have the correct response, writing only "What is?" She wagered $8,000, ending with $19,600.
It appeared Thalsma didn't initially realize he had ended Schneider's streak. It was after host Ken Jennings announced he was the new champion that Thalsma reacted with genuine surprise.
“It’s still a little hard to believe," she said of her impressive run. "It's something that I’m going to be remembered for, and that’s pretty great,"
Schneider's loss comes just days after she gained the distinction of the person with the second most consecutive wins on the popular TV quiz show, unseating former title-holder Matt Amodio. Only Jennings with, 74 consecutive wins, surpasses Schneider's streak.
Schneider’s prize total of $1,382,800 puts her in fourth place on the regular-season winnings list, behind Jennings ($2,520,700), James Holzhauer ($2,462,216) and Amodio ($1,518,601).
Although no longer eligible to compete on the show's regular season, her accomplishments have earned her a spot to compete in the show's tournament of champions, which will make her the first openly transgender individual to do so.
"The best part for me has been being on TV as my true self, expressing myself, representing the entire community of trans people and ... just being a smart, confident woman doing something super normal like being on 'Jeopardy!'" Schneider said during an interview on "Good Morning America."
Schneider has so far earned nearly $1.4 million, placing her within the top-15 highest winnings among all American gameshows.
According to the Ohio News Time, Schneider also happened to fulfill a teenage prophecy after earning the "Most Likely to Compete on 'Jeopardy!'" superlative during her sophomore year of high-school.
Travis Pittman and the Associated Press contributed to this report.