Jeopardy! is rewriting its history books again! So soon after celebrating the impressive runs of Amy Schneider and Matt Amodio, Mattea Roach is adding her name to the list of all-time Jeopardy! greats. On April 22, the 23-year-old tutor won her 14th straight game to bring her total winnings to $320,081. Not only does that push Roach into the Top Ten all-time for consecutive games won and highest non-tournament cash winnings, this particular win carries a little extra meaning — and it’s something that former host Alex Trebek would surely appreciate.
Mattea Roach, who hales from Toronto, Ontario, has become the winningest Canadian contestant in Jeopardy! history. Alex Trebek, who also came from Ontario, would have undoubtedly been proud for her to do so well on the game show. The iconic host, who died in November 2020 of pancreatic cancer, was never shy about his Canadian pride, and I can’t help but think of how happy he would be to see Roach’s accomplishments.
Those accomplishments are certainly impressive. Mattea Roach answered 93% of clues correctly en route to 14 straight wins, putting her eighth on the all-time consecutive games list. Her latest win pushed her ahead of 2015 champion Matt Jackson. In her April 22 victory, the champ collected a cool $34,000, bringing her total to $320,081 — good for 10th place in all-time regular season winnings. Austin Rogers (who’s also infamous for making Alex Trebek say “dick tree”) sits at ninth place with $411,000, and she surpassed Arthur Chu to knock him out of the Top Ten.
The tutor from Toronto said that with all of the long win streaks the game show has seen over the past couple of years, she had pretty low expectations for an extended stay. She even thought she might be going up against one of those record-breaking champions. Mattea Roach said:
This has been such a crazy season of streaks and I was fully thinking Amy [Schneider] 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. I guess what I didn't realize is maybe I could become the super-champion I wanted to see in the world.
That’s a champion’s attitude if I’ve ever heard one! Mattea Roach missed crossing paths with Amy Schneider by a few months, as her 40-game win streak ended in late January. You never know, though, because there’s always the Tournament of Champions!
As Mattea Roach starts to work her way up the Jeopardy! Hall of Fame, Amy Schneider is certainly up there, but she’s also pretty familiar with the guy at the top. Current semi-permanent host Ken Jennings holds the record for consecutive games won with 74 (Schneider’s 40 is second place), as well as the top spot for highest winnings in non-tournament play with $2,520,700.
She has a ways to go, but maybe she’ll get a boost of Canadian pride when her journey resumes on Monday, April 25. Check your local listings to see when Jeopardy! plays in your area, and check out our 2022 TV schedule to see what shows are premiering soon.
