‘I Quit My Job!’ ‘Jeopardy!’ Champion Amy Schneider Joins The Great Resignation

This millionaire game show champion just quit her day job. Who is Amy Schneider?

At this point, is there anyone in America who doesn’t know who Schneider is? The winningest woman in the history of Jeopardy!, the contestant with the show’s second-longest winning streak, the out transgender software engineer from Oakland, Calif., told me Monday in a Zoom interview that she’s joined the Great Resignation. Our conversation was recorded for Voice OutLoud: The Podcast.

Dawn Ennis: Are you ambivalent right now about going back to the nine to five, even if it’s the Zoom grind?

Amy Schneider: Well, no, because as of today, I quit that job.

Ennis: Congratulations! Oh, you must have enjoyed that. How did you do it?

Schneider: You know, I told my managers. My direct manager, that I told it to, is somebody at that company that I really do like, and I think, well, it wasn’t as good a feeling as if I were to deliver the news in person to certain other people there.

Ennis: But you wanted to do it in person?

Schneider: That’s correct. But yeah, I thought that things would have started to calm down and they’re not. And, you know, looking at what my agent thinks I can get out of this book deal, and things like that, I was just, “Let’s stop doing this thing. I’m miserable at.”

Schneider’s reign as Jeopardy! champion ended Jan. 26, after 40 games, and a windfall of $1,328,800.

On Tuesday, Schneider broke the news to her Twitter followers.

Schneider signed with CAA and told me it’s still strange to think she has an agent.

“Saying to people, ‘I got an email from my agent,’ and I’m hearing it come out of my mouth and it’s crazy.”

The champion spoke with me about her plans to write a book, securing her financial future and a trip she’ll take to Ireland next month, just in time for St. Patrick’s Day. Plus she’s talking with her partner, Genevieve Davis, about potentially starting a family, and there’s so much more.

The interview drops Friday wherever you get your podcasts. Christopher Byrne is host and producer of Voice OutLoud: The Podcast and editor in chief of CT Voice Magazine.