The best part of Jeopardy! tournaments for me is getting to welcome back not only the champions who we’ve rooted for over the past season but so many all-stars from years and sometimes decades ago. Some of these fan favorites, like Amy Schneider, have solidified their place as one of Jeopardy!’s biggest winners and really have nothing left to prove. So that begs the question: After Schneider’s latest loss, will she decide to hang it up, or will we see her again next year?
Many fans hoped to see Amy Schneider return for Season 3 of Jeopardy! Masters, which will premiere on the 2025 TV schedule on Wednesday, April 30, but she lost in the quarterfinal round of the de facto qualifying tournament, aka the wonderfully abbreviated JIT. Despite the disappointing early defeat, Schneider made her future Jeopardy! plans clear, telling TV Insider she "certainly" would be back:
It’s sort of a vicious cycle where it’s either like, I win and want to go back and win again, or I don’t and want to go back and do better next time. Perhaps I will retire at some point, but I don’t think that time is yet, as long as they keep calling me back.
I can definitely see how, win or lose, a player like Amy Schneider would be eager to get back in the game to either recapture the thrill of victory or get redemption after the agony of defeat.
Amy Schneider went on a tear in 2021 and 2022, winning 40 consecutive games to become the closest person to catching Ken Jennings’ seemingly unbeatable 72-game streak. But it didn’t all 41 games for Schneider to enter the Jeopardy! history books. In November 2021, she became the first transgender contestant to qualify for the Tournament of Champions, which she went on to win.
She later competed on Seasons 1 and 2 of Jeopardy! Masters and was runner-up of the inaugural Jeopardy! Invitational Tournament in 2024.
With a resume like that, how could you possibly turn down Jeopardy! when they call? That’s a question many of the quiz show’s top players have to ask themselves. Ken Jennings and Sam Buttrey each had to officially retire when they were hired to work for the show (though EP Michael Davies would totally break that rule if Jennings wanted to return). But I think others may face the same vicious cycle as Amy Schneider.
I can’t imagine James Holzhauer losing that competitive spirit, even though the seemingly unbeatable game show villain was taken down handily by Victoria Groce in last year’s Jeopardy! Masters. Matt Amodio, as well, has voiced his obsession with learning (and with taking the title of “game show villain” from Holzhauer) and will also likely have to be dragged kicking and screaming into retirement if and when the day comes.
The decision to continue playing may or may not be a tough one for Jeopardy!’s winningest players, but I do love seeing them return to the Alex Trebek Stage. I look forward to seeing Amy Schneider again, and I’ll be tuning in for Jeopardy! Masters, premiering at 9 p.m. ET Wednesday, April 30, and streaming the next day with a Hulu subscription.
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