Out ‘Jeopardy!’ Contestant Mattea Roach Reaches Eighth-Longest Win Streak

While we all adored watching unrelenting trans contestant Amy Schneider dominate the Jeopardy! stage day after day, there’s a new queer phenomenon making waves on the game show. After her 14th consecutive win on Friday, Mattea Roach qualified for the show’s Tournament of Champions, which features the 15 top-earning players from the prior season each year, along with securing the eighth-longest winning streak in the show’s history.

The 23-year-old Canadian tutor brought her total winnings to $320,081 after Friday’s win, also making her the highest-winning Canadian contestant in Jeopardy! history. (Canadian-American Alex Trebek would be proud!)

As an out lesbian, Matteo is yet another LGBTQ brainiac making waves on the classic game show. Her streak follows Schneider’s who made history in November as the first trans contestant to qualify for the Tournament of Champions, along with her 40-game winning streak, title as the show’s top-earning woman contestant, and securing the second-highest winning streak in Jeopardy history.

Roach’s nodded to Schneider’s legendary run after her 12th consecutive win last week.

“This has been such a crazy season of streaks,” she says. “I was fully thinking, you know, ‘Amy might still be here. If it’s not Amy, there’s going to be some other super champion that’s just going to knock me out game one.’ And then, I guess what I didn’t realize is, maybe I could become the super champion I wanted to see in the world.”

Similar to reception through Schneider’s run, viewers and LGBTQ organizations, including GLAAD and the National Center for Lesbian Rights, have taken to the Twitter and beyond to praise the contestant and celebrate increased queer visibility, and success, on the show.

Roach’s active Twitter account plainly states “lesbian,” though she hasn’t brought it up on the show. However, more LGBTQ contestants have increasingly recognized their LGBTQ identities while playing.

Schneider wore an LGBTQ Pride flag pin during her run, saying it was the highlight of her experience on Jeopardy! Contestant Cody Lawrence also got kudos when he sported a bisexual Pride flag pin on the show in 2020.

Screenshot courtesy of Jeopardy! on YouTube