CNN
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Even probably the most informal “Jeopardy!” viewers may need lately seen footage making the internet rounds of a supremely unbothered Mattea Roach wagering $8,000 within the “Anatomy of Phrases” class.
“ what – if I wager quite a bit and lose in the present day, like, no matter, I had such a great run,” the bespectacled trivia whiz instructed present host Ken Jennings in an episode that aired earlier this week. “So let’s attempt to do, like, actually, $8,000.”
Jennings, audibly wowed by Roach’s hefty wager, learn the clue, a definition for which Roach would wish to determine the corresponding phrase: “To softly tease one other individual.”
Roach let the clue sink in for lower than a second and nodded, the reply on the tip of her tongue.
“Okay, nicely, I ought to have wagered extra,” she stated, with a flick of her wrist and a refined eye roll. “What’s ‘rib’?”
And with that nonchalant (and proper) reply, Roach reclaimed her lead and – with a wager of $1 – gained her seventeenth recreation straight. Since that episode, the 23-year-old Canadian has gained 18 video games, making her one of many present’s youngest “tremendous champions” (that’s, she’s cracked the all-time prime 10 of “Jeopardy!” successful streaks).
Her cumulative winnings now complete over $438,000 as of her 18th recreation, and he or she boasts a 93% accuracy charge in her responses, per “Jeopardy!” Her nineteenth recreation will air Friday.
Roach can also be the most recent LGBTQ “Jeopardy!” super-champion after Amy Schneider’s triumphant run on the present. Schneider, a trans lady, earned greater than $1.3 million in a 40-game win streak earlier this yr, one of many longest streaks within the present’s historical past.
“It’s been such an honor and a pleasure to be a part of what has been such an unimaginable a legacy of queer and trans champions,” Roach stated in an interview with GLAAD, the LGBTQ media advocacy group. “And in addition simply queer and trans contestants actually, like, displaying up on the present and bringing a variety of taste, I believe, has been actually enjoyable for me to observe as a viewer.”
Roach known as Schneider a “actual inspiration” to her earlier than she began filming her run of “Jeopardy!” episodes and instructed GLAAD she hoped the 2 might compete alongside one another in a future “Match of Champions” version of the present.
In one other first, Roach can also be the collection’ longest-running Canadian (after late host Alex Trebek, after all), in accordance with “Good Morning America’s” Robin Roberts.
In an interview with Roberts, Roach shared her pre-game technique: repeating “Hail Mary” as soon as the cameras begin to roll, a behavior she picked up at a Catholic highschool.
“I determine it actually can’t harm – it actually didn’t appear to harm me,” Roach instructed Roberts.