Matt Amodio Rises to Become Fifth-Highest ‘Jeopardy!’ Money Winner

Matt Amodio, a graduate studio from New Haven, Conn., has won 13 'Jeopardy!' matches in a row.
Matt Amodio, a graduate studio from New Haven, Conn., has won 13 'Jeopardy!' matches in a row. (Image credit: Sony Pictures Television/Jeopardy!)

Matt Amodio continued his winning streak on Jeopardy! to become the show’s fifth-highest-ever money winner in regular game play, with a total of $430,200 so far, and the show’s fifth-highest number of consecutive wins with 13. Amodio is a graduate student from New Haven, Conn.

Ken Jennings is Jeopardy!’s highest-ever money winner in regular game play, having won $2,520,700 and the consecutive-game leader at 74. Jennings accomplished both feats in 2004. Las Vegas-based professional gambler James Holzhauer is second on both lists, having won a total of $2,462,216 across 32 consecutive games.

CNBC’s David Faber was Jeopardy!'s guest host from Monday, Aug. 2 through Friday, Aug. 6, and the show is making a $154,000 donation to the Robin Hood Foundation, New York City’s largest poverty-fighting organization. Next week, Fox Sports’ Joe Buck spends the week behind the podium. Buck has chosen St Louis, Mo.-based children’s educational organization KidSmart as his charity.

The show has been hosted by guest hosts all year after the death of host Alex Trebek in November 2020. Jennings kicked off the guest-host run with a six-week stint in January and February. That was followed by two weeks with Mike Richards, who replaced the retired Harry Friedman as executive producer of both Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune in September 2020, and then a slew of other guests, including Today's Savannah Guthrie, the Green Bay Packers' Aaron Rodgers, CNN's Anderson Cooper, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, and many more. 

When the Sony Pictures Television-produced show starts season 39 in September, it is expected to have named a permanent host. Richards, who has extensive game-show experience in his background, is a leading candidate to get the job, according to reports that surfaced this week.

Also Read: Mike Richards Might Be ‘Jeopardy!’’s Permanent Host

Paige Albiniak

Contributing editor Paige Albiniak has been covering the business of television for more than 25 years. She is a longtime contributor to Next TV, Broadcasting + Cable and Multichannel News. She concurrently serves as editorial director for The Global Entertainment Marketing Academy of Arts & Sciences (G.E.M.A.). She has written for such publications as TVNewsCheck, The New York Post, Variety, CBS Watch and more. Albiniak was B+C’s Los Angeles bureau chief from September 2002 to 2004, and an associate editor covering Congress and lobbying for the magazine in Washington, D.C., from January 1997 - September 2002.