NEW YORK (AP) 鈥 Forty-game winner Amy Schneider capped her big year by winning a hard-fought 鈥淛eopardy!鈥 tournament of champions in an episode that aired Monday.
Schneider, a writer from Oakland, California, won three games in the tournament finals, narrowly beating Andrew He, a software developer from neighboring San Francisco, who won two games. The third contestant, Sam Buttrey, was another Californian who won one game.
Schneider had a 40-game winning streak earlier this year, the second longest in the game show's history, which began when she defeated He.
She said she both wanted to compete again with He, known for his cold-blooded big bets on the show's Daily Doubles, and feared him.
鈥淗e was definitely someone that I knew could beat me because he very nearly did before, and he did a couple of times here as well,鈥 Schneider said. 鈥淎ny of the three of us really could have won if a very small number of things had gone differently.鈥
Schneider led He by $1,400 going into Final Jeopardy, where the prompt was: 鈥淭he January 12, 1864 Washington Evening Star reported on a performance of this 鈥榙ashing comedy鈥 to 鈥榓 full and delighted house.鈥"
The correct response: 鈥淲hat is 鈥極ur American Cousin?鈥欌
Schneider and He both answered correctly, but Schneider made the bigger bet. She won the $250,000 grand prize, He won $100,000 for second place and Buttrey won $50,000.
On April 14, 1865, President Abraham Lincoln was shot and mortally wounded by John Wilkes Booth during a performance of 鈥淥ur American Cousin鈥 at Ford鈥檚 Theatre in Washington.
