'Jeopardy!' champion Matt Amodio becomes 3rd highest-earning winner in show's history

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Matt Amodio has made "Jeopardy!" history once again.

On Thursday night's episode, the graduate student from New Haven, Conn. became the long-running game show's third all-time highest winner. The achievement came as the PhD student won his 17th consecutive game.

Amodio earned himself a grand prize total of $547,600. Amodio has been climbing his way up the top ten charts since he began his winning streak weeks ago, putting him in the conversation alongside acclaimed "Jeopardy!" champions like Ken Jennings and James Holzhauer. 

Amodio is set to appear in the final episode of Season 37 on Friday where he'll go head to head with contestants Nicolle Neulist from Chicago, Ill. and Eric Shi from Houston, Texas.

In a statement after his big win on Thursday, Amodio said in a statement: "The show has had so many brilliant people [on it]. I'm honored to be thought of as even close to them."

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On Monday, Amodio beat previous champion Julie Collins' $428,100 total. He has been climbing his way up the top ten charts since he began his winning streak weeks ago. Last Friday's episode earned him another spot in a top 5 record-holding category. He became fifth for the most consecutive wins.

 However, he’s still got a long way to go if he’s planning to unseat current first-place winner Ken Jennings, whose winning streak of 74 games and $2,520,700 total winnings is still the massive score to beat. 

Unlike other "Jeopardy!" hall of fame champions, Amodio has impressively broken records at the game show with a variety of different hosts, more than any other champion from the time when the late Alex Trebek was the only name in hosting. 

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After getting his start under guest host Robin Roberts, Amodio stuck around for the entirety of LeVar Burton’s run and wrapped things up with David Faber last week. On Monday, he began his first series of games under a fourth guest host, Joe Buck, who kicked off a week-long term as the man behind the podium.

Matt Amodio is now the third highest-earning ‘Jeopardy!’ player. (Jeopardy Productions, Inc.)

Sony Pictures Entertainment announced on Wednesday that Mike Richards and Mayim Bialik will officially split hosting duties as the new permanent hosts of "Jeopardy!"

Richards will take over in Season 38 for regular play while the "Call Me Kat" star headlines an upcoming crop of spinoff and special event games such as the upcoming "Jeopardy! National College Championship" at ABC. 

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It brings an end to almost a year of guest hosts and a long search for who will fill Trebek's shoes. Trebek died in November of 2020 after a lengthy battle with stage 4 pancreatic cancer.