Jeopardy! champ Amy Schneider has spoken out in defense of one of her recent challengers, saying she had been the target of sexist attacks on Twitter.
On Tuesday's installment of the show, Schneider was seen facing off against Krys Fischer, a retired substitute teacher from Mendota Heights, Minnesota, and Pam Schoenberg, a dentist and entrepreneur from South Salem, New York.
The day after fans watched Schneider emerge from the episode victorious, the Ohio native took to Twitter to speak out against the misogynistic criticism aimed at Schoenberg, whose competitive streak kept the champ on her toes.
"I know that most of the criticism of Pam was just the harmless smack talk that we all do about reality show characters we choose to dislike," the engineering manager wrote, noting that she herself has "randomly" disliked a reality show contestant.
"Thus, the vast majority of you will not be surprised when I say that Pam, the human being (as opposed to 'Pam' the character on Jeopardy) was a perfectly nice person, with whom I had quite pleasant interactions before, during, and after taping our episode," she went on.
"But I feel it's important to acknowledge: we all know that some amount of the criticism that Pam received, she received for being a woman. I don't know how much of it wouldn't have been directed at a man acting the same way, but I do know that it's more than 0%.
"So for the record: Pam's competitiveness was one of my *favorite* things about her. Jeopardy is a competition! You better believe that every time you see me on that stage, I desperately want to win. And the whole joy of competition is facing off against other competitive people.
"When all is said and done, the games I'm going to remember the most are the ones where I was up against the stiffest competition. And last night's game will absolutely be on that list. Hats off to Pam, she came to play that day, and I'm grateful that she did!"
Thus, the vast majority of you will not be surprised when I say that Pam, the human being (as opposed to "Pam" the character on Jeopardy) was a perfectly nice person, with whom I had quite pleasant interactions before, during, and after taping our episode.
— Amy Schneider (@Jeopardamy) December 1, 2021
But I feel it's important to acknowledge: we all know that some amount of the criticism that Pam received, she received for being a woman. I don't know how much of it wouldn't have been directed at a man acting the same way, but I do know that it's more than 0%
— Amy Schneider (@Jeopardamy) December 1, 2021
Schneider concluded: "I don't want to overstate this, there's nothing wrong with rooting against a Jeopardy contestant you take a dislike to (if so, I've been wrong my whole life lol). I just didn't want to let the gendered nature of some of that criticism go unnoticed."
Schoenberg had, at one point in the game, surged ahead of Schneider, who was able to seal a win and increase her streak to 10 games. As of Wednesday night, Schenider has won 11 games with $421,200 in earnings.
In a recent essay for Newsweek, Schneider—whose debut Jeopardy! episode aired during Trans Awareness Week—discussed the social media reaction she has received since hitting success on the syndicated quiz show.
"I have been on Twitter as a trans person for a while, so I know it can be an ugly place at times," she said. "But my experience has not been negative there at all since I have been on Jeopardy!.
"Almost everyone has been so positive, happy and supportive. Over the past couple of days, [former champ] Matt Amodio has been really supportive, even complimenting my pink blazer!"
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
Ryan Smith is a Newsweek Senior Pop Culture and Entertainment Reporter based in London, U.K. His focus is reporting on ... Read more
To read how Newsweek uses AI as a newsroom tool, Click here.
