Matt Amodio (b. December 4, 1990) is a postdoctoral researcher from Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Jeopardy! Run[]
Regular game[]
He made his Jeopardy! debut on July 21, 2021, and rode a 38-game winning streak, where he accumulated $1,518,601. He is the third-highest money winner in regular competition behind only Ken Jennings and James Holzhauer, and he also holds the third-longest winning streak. Additionally, he is the fifth-highest money winner in the entire show, behind only Jennings, Holzhauer, Brad Rutter, and Amy Schneider
Unlike most contestants, most of whom played with one host, two at most, and some with three, he has played with a total of seven guest hosts in his entire Jeopardy! career. His initial run saw him play under Robin Roberts (Games 1 - 3), LeVar Burton (Games 4 - 8), David Faber (Games 9 - 13), Joe Buck (Games 14 - 18), Mike Richards (Games 19 - 23), and Mayim Bialik (Games 24 - 39), while his Tournament of Champions, Masters and Invitational games were hosted by Jennings. While many have praised him for the ability to quickly pick up timing with multiple hosts, he said that it didn’t affect his gameplay very much. Given how it is unlikely that there will be more guest hosts in the future, his tally of seven guest hosts is a record that will more than likely stand for the rest of the show's lifespan.
His gameplay style mimics that of Holzhauer in the Jeopardy round in that he selects the highest value clues on the board first to amass as much money as possible with which to wager whenever he hits a Daily Double, and always wagers everything he has on the Jeopardy round Daily Double. In the Double Jeopardy round, though his regular style is mimicking of Holzhauer, his Daily Double style is much more similar to that of Jennings in that he wagers somewhat conservatively unless he is behind someone else or is in a close game; in these cases, his bet is much more similar to Holzhauer.
He phrases his responses as "What's..." rather than "what is/who is" regardless of what is grammatically correct, drawing criticism from some fans. He chose this strategy as it is one less thing he has to think about when forming his response. Jeopardy! even went out of its way to clarify that his strategy is perfectly within the rules, noting that the only requirement is for responses to be in the form of a question - it need not be grammatically correct.
He holds the record for most money earned in Double Jeopardy after going into the round with a negative score as well, racking in $31,000 in one round after entering it with -$600 in his 22nd game. In his 34th game on October 4, he finished with $83,000 after a successful $37,000 wager in Final Jeopardy! which is the highest single-day winnings of all players besides Holzhauer, beating Roger Craig's record of $77,000.
However, he also holds the infamous record for most money lost on a Final Jeopardy! response - in fact, he actually has the top two. He lost $37,000 in his eleventh game and $34,000 in his fourteenth, respectively. Ultimately, these wagers were both made in games where he had a runaway, so he won them both. It should be noted that both of these wagers were attempts to best Craig’s $77,000 record, though they were both unsuccessful.
He was defeated by Jonathan Fisher on October 11, 2021. He had a lead at the end of the Jeopardy round ($9,800 vs $4,000 for Jonathan) despite not finding the Daily Double. However, he gave four incorrect responses in Double Jeopardy (worth a total of $6,000) and did not find either daily double, giving him a net gain of only $800 for that round and putting him in third place going into Final Jeopardy. He did not answer correctly to Final Jeopardy either, the tenth time he failed to do so, and only the second instance in which it was not a Triple Stumper. He finished in third place with $5,600 and was given the $1,000 consolation prize.
Jonathan went on to win 11 games and $246,100, making him the highest-winning and longest streaking giant killer (term given to contestants who defeat ultrachampions, or people that have won 10 or more games) taking both records away from Emma Boettcher (3 games, $98,002). Jonathan’s run also made history, but in a different way - Matt and Jonathan are the only back-to-back ultrachampions in Jeopardy history.
Not only that, but the performance of the third contestant, Jessica Stephens, was impressive enough that the new Executive Producer, Michael Davies, saw fit to create a mini-tournament that would bring 18 players back for a second chance. Jessica’s victory in the Second Chance Tournament meant that, for the first time, all three players from one regular season game of Jeopardy would go on to play in the Tournament of Champions.
Tournament of Champions[]
He was given a bye (an automatic slot) to the semifinals of the 2022 Tournament of Champions, and faced John Focht and Sam Buttrey in his semifinal. He only found the first Daily Double in Double Jeopardy, while Sam found the other two, got both correct, and bet substantially enough to lead him going into Final Jeopardy, with John trailing the both of them. All three players got Final correct, and both Sam and John wagered to cover him, who himself wagered $0 in hopes of a Triple Stumper. Sam went on to the finals of the Tournament, while he collected the $10,000 consolation prize.
Jeopardy! Masters[]
He played in the 2023 and 2024 Jeopardy Masters.
Season 1 Quarterfinals[]
He played in the first game of night one against 40-day champion Amy Schneider and 5-day champion Andrew He. He gave twelve correct responses (including one DD) and three wrong responses. Everyone got Final correct and earned no match points for finishing third.
He played in the second game of night two against 5-day champion Andrew He and 32-day champion James Holzhauer. He gave sixteen correct responses (including two DDs) and two wrong responses. Nobody got Final correct after James had Haiti, crossed it out, and changed it to Nicaragua. He earned 3 match points for finishing first.
He played in the second game of night three against 5-day champion Andrew He and 23-day champion Mattea Roach. He gave eighteen correct responses and four wrong responses. Everyone got Final correct. He earned no match points for finishing third and has no match points. He still has 3 match points.
He played in the second game of night four against 32-day champion James Holzhauer and 23-day champion Mattea Roach. He gave fourteen correct responses (including one DD) and six wrong responses (including one DD). He finished Double Jeopardy with -2,000 points and earned no match points. He still has 3 match points.
He played in the first game of night five against 23-day champion Mattea Roach and 40-day champion Amy Schneider. He gave seventeen correct responses (including one DD) and two wrong responses. He and Mattea did not get Final correct, but still earned 3 match points for finishing first for a total of 6 match points.
He played in the second game of night six against 32-day champion James Holzhauer and 40-day champion Amy Schneider. He gave eleven correct responses (including one DD) and one wrong response. He and James missed Final. He earned no match points for finishing third and still has 6 match points.
He played in the first game of night seven against 23-day champion Mattea Roach and 2021 Professors Tournament winner Sam Buttrey. He gave 25 correct responses (including all DDs) and one wrong response. He and Mattea missed Final. He earned 3 match points for a total of 9 match points.
The top four finishers were 32-day champion James Holzhauer, 38-day champion Matt Amodio, 23-day champion Mattea Roach and 5-day champion Andrew He. 2021 Professors Tournament winner Sam Buttrey took home $50,000 for sixth place and 40-day champion Amy Schneider took home $75,000 for fifth place.
Season 1 Semifinals[]
He played in the first game of night one against 32-day champion James Holzhauer and 5-day champion Andrew He. He gave ten correct responses and two wrong responses. Everyone got Final correct. He earned no match points for finishing third.
He played in both games of night two. In game one, he faced 32-day champion James Holzhauer and 23-day champion Mattea Roach. He gave fourteen correct responses and five wrong responses (including one DD). Nobody got Final correct. He earned no match points for finishing third. In game two, he faced 23-day champion Mattea Roach and 5-day champion Andrew He. He gave nineteen correct responses (including two DDs) and three wrong responses. Again, nobody got Final correct. He made a tribute message "What an honor it is to share a stage with these wonderful people". He earned 3 match points for first to avoid shutout.
At the end, there was a tie for last place with two match points (23-day champion Mattea Roach and 5-day champion Andrew He). The first tiebreaker was the number of correct responses during the semifinals. By a score of 50-45, 23-day champion Mattea Roach won and joined 32-day champion James Holzhauer and 38-day champion Matt Amodio in the finals. 5-day champion Andrew He took home $100,000 for fourth place.
Season 1 Finals[]
He faced 23-day champion Mattea Roach and 32-day champion James Holzhauer. In game one, he gave fourteen correct responses and one wrong response. Everyone got Final correct and he wagered $6,000. In game two, he gave twelve correct responses and three wrong responses (including one DD). No one got Final correct and with where the scores sat, 32-day champion James Holzhauer won. 23-day champion Mattea Roach took home $250,000 and he took home $150,000.
Season 2 Quarterfinals[]
He played in the first game of night one against 23-day champion Mattea Roach and 1-day champion Victoria Groce. He gave thirteen correct responses and two wrong responses (including one DD). He was the only player correct, but Victoria's runaway gave her 3 match points. He earned no match points.
He played in the first game of night two against 32-day champion James Holzhauer and 23-day champion Mattea Roach. He gave twenty correct responses (including one DD) and one wrong response. Everyone got Final correct. He earned 1 match point for finishing second.
He played in the first game of night three against 3-day champion Yogesh Raut and 40-day champion Amy Schneider. He gave fourteen correct responses (including two DDs) and four wrong responses. He and Amy got Final correct. However, Yogesh's runaway gave him 3 match points. He earned no match points and still has 1 match point.
He played in the first game of night four against 40-day champion Amy Schneider and 23-day champion Mattea Roach. He gave fifteen correct responses and three wrong responses. Everyone got Final correct. He earned no match points and still has 1 match point.
He played in the first game of night five against 1-day champion Victoria Groce and 32-day champion James Holzhauer. He gave five correct responses and three wrong responses. Everyone got Final correct. He earned no match points and still has 1 match point. He is mathematically eliminated at this point.
He played in the first game of night six against 3-day champion Yogesh Raut and 32-day champion James Holzhauer. He gave sixteen correct responses (including one DD) and three wrong responses (including one DD). He and James got Final correct. He earned 1 match point for a total of 2 match points.
The top 4 finishers were 1-day champion Victoria Groce, 3-day champion Yogesh Raut, 40-day champion Amy Schneider and 32-day champion James Holzhauer. He took home $50,000 for sixth place and 23-day champion Mattea Roach took home $75,000 for fifth place.
Trivia[]
- In an interview, he claimed that his ultimate goal was to win $2,520,701, $1 more than Ken Jennings’ streak earnings.
- He was given the nickname “Ol’ Mr. Can’t Be Caught” by Joe Buck in his 16th game.
- He is the second player to reach $60,000 three times, $70,000 twice, and $80,000.
- His run on the show has been dubbed the “Amodio Rodeo” or the “Matt Gala”, and contestants who have lost to him are said to have been Amodio’ed.
- A few online are pushing for him to become a Chaser on ABC’s The Chase.
- In a Reddit AMA, when asked about the Final Jeopardy clue in the game that he lost, which he did not know the answer to, he clarified that he did not get it incorrect on purpose, but overlooked a major part of the clue, being the part about the Danube River, which misled him towards Poland instead of the correct answer (Austria).
- Matt is the only champion whose consolation prize is less than the square root of his total winnings ( √1,518,601 = 1,232).
- Matt is also one of only three champions to have “shot his age” in wins (all of his games were played at age 30) along with Jennings (74 wins at 29 years old) and Mattea Roach (23 wins at 23 years old).
- Along with Schneider and Roach, Matt is one of three champions to have a bye - a guaranteed slot - in the semifinals of the 2022 Tournament of Champions.
- Along with Season 6 5-day champion Steve Berman, Matt co-owns the record for highest loss on a single Daily Double, with a $15,000 loss in Matt’s 25th game and a pre-doubled $7,500 loss in Steve’s 3rd game.
- Matt is the first and only person whose run contained the runs of three other separate Tournament of Champions challengers - Rowan Ward from his 18th game, and Jessica Stephens and Jonathan Fisher from his 39th game.