One of the most winningest, famous and beloved Jeopardy! contestants of all time is getting married. Amy Schneider took to Twitter on Thursday to announce she is engaged to the person she claimed was “the very best person in the entire world” — former girlfriend and now fiancé Genevieve Davis.
Schneider went public with the news on Thursday, declaring, “Genevieve is no longer my girlfriend… she’s my fiancée!!!”
Schneider rose to fame as the No. 2 all-time contestant on the show ever, just behind current host Ken Jennings in the winners’ rankings. She eventually lost after 40 games and 39 consecutive wins.
She was a fan favorite during her tenure on the show and many didn’t want to see her go when she did. When she was on the show, Schneider could often be seen wearing a pearl necklace, which was a birthday present from Davis.
“[Being on Jeopardy!] was the first significant time I’d spent apart from her since we’d started dating. And so having that was just a nice, just sort of comforting reminder that, that she was at home waiting for me,” Schneider told USA Today.
Schneider, who is transgender, said she was honored to represent the transgender community on the show.
“I had had feelings, kind of a little bit, of almost guilt at just sort of how easy it’s generally been for me, the path of being a trans woman. It’s easy because of the work and sacrifice that so many people before me made,” she previously told People. “There was sort of a little bit of a feeling of guilt about just sort of reaping all the benefits of that without feeling like I was giving much back.”
The newly-engaged former engineering manager from Oakland, California, won more than $1 million on the show. She said she was going to use the money to take Davis on a nice vacation.
“We’re going to take a trip to Ireland and we’re thinking about where else we might go with it,” she said. “And buying some fancy designer clothes I think is definitely, definitely on the list.”
One country that’s probably not on her wish list is Bangladesh — the answer to the Final Jeopardy question that bested Schneider and ended her streak.
This isn’t the last of Schneider we’ll see on Jeopardy!. She’s going to appear on the show’s Tournament of Champions in the fall. When she does, she’ll be the first transgender contestant to participate.
