After winning another episode of Jeopardy! last night, Matt Amodio is $48,800 richer and 28 games into his win streak. And more importantly, Amodio’s most recent earnings tipped him over the million-dollar mark. So now, he’s one of three contestants to ever win more than $1 million on the game show. No matter what happens from here on out, Amodio will forever be a part of Jeopardy! history.
After becoming a millionaire, the 30-year-old Ph.D. student took to social media to thank his fans for their unending support. Amodio believes that we’ve helped him climb to trivia greatness—and he’s right. Since July, we’ve all been crossing our fingers and holding our breath as he stands behind his podium and bulldozes his competition.
On Friday, he sent his little message into the world through Twitter.
I’ve felt such tremendous support from the #Jeopardy community, I feel like we’re on this run together as a team. Thank you! ❤️
— Matt Amodio (@AmodioMatt) September 25, 2021
(…but no, I’m not splitting the 💵 amongst us all a million ways, sorry about that…)
“I’ve felt such tremendous support from the #Jeopardy community, I feel like we’re on this run together as a team. Thank you!” he wrote. “…But no, I’m not splitting the [money] amongst us all a million ways, sorry about that…” he added.
Maybe if he crosses the billion-dollar mark, we’ll all get a payday. He’d have to win a lot of games for that. But hey, there’s always a chance, right?
One Simple Strategy Helps Matt Amodio Keep Winning on ‘Jeopardy!’
Matt Amodio is a likable guy. He’s so friendly and engaging that he has over 22k followers on Twitter. And the social media platform officially verified him this week. But there are a few outliers who don’t like Amodio. And their distaste has nothing to do with his personality. Instead, they’re annoyed by a habit he picked up on the game show—a habit that helps him win.
When most players answer a question on Jeopardy!, they begin by saying, “what is.” But when Amodio answers a question, he begins with “what’s.” We wouldn’t think the less formal contraction would be a big deal. But a lot of avid fans prefer the traditional phrase.
However, the Yale student isn’t going to change his ways now. According to him, the shortened response is a strategy that keeps him on the show. In an interview with Jeopardy!, he explained his process.
“I went about the approach of saying the fewer things to think about, the better,” he says. “I found the simplest, most repeatable approach I could and went with it.”
