JEOPARDY! contestant Matt Amodio earned a spot as the show's third-longest consecutive winner back in October 2021 after 38 wins.
As a result of his impressive streak, the 32-year-old is returning on May 8, 2023, to compete alongside Jeopardy! icons during the Masters special.
Who is Jeopardy! contestant Matt Amodio?
Matt Amodio is a postdoctoral researcher at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, according to his LinkedIn.
He earned his Ph.D. with a focus on machine learning and artificial intelligence from Yale in June 2022.
"He is interested in href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthew-amodio-20b9707b/" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">LinkedIn bio reads.
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"In his professional experience, he has built predictive models for massive data sets in fields such as computational biology, social media networking, natural language processing, geospatial routing, cybersecurity, and computational advertising. In his free time, he does the same for baseball data."
According to his Twitter bio, Amodio is a "Lifelong Jeopardy! fan."
Despite being a "lifelong" fan of America's favorite game show, Amodio previously said he never would've auditioned for Jeopardy! if it wasn't for his parents.
"I was only reluctantly trying out because I didn't think I would make it, and even if I did make it, I wouldn't be very good," Amodio told Entertainment Weekly in 2021.
"I only tried out at the behest of my dad, who insisted, as any parent would, 'My son is awesome. He would do so well.' And so I said 'Fine, I'll do it for you.'"
How much has Matt Amodio won so far on Jeopardy!?
Amodio became one of the top Jeopardy! earners back in 2021.
According to the show's Contestant Zone, he sits in third place when it comes to the highest winnings during a regular-season play.
Amodio has racked up a total of $1,518,601 thus far.
He said that before he came on the show, he watched Ken Jennings for pointers and listened to everything about what the reigning Jeopardy! King had to say on the show.
"I think that my strategy going in was watch Ken [Jennings] and try to do whatever Ken does. I would just take any notes I could from him," the Ph.D. grad said.
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Amodio said he wasn't expecting to win a single game at all, but then ended up describing his wins as "addictive."
"Once I won one, I wasn't sitting on my laurels or anything. I said, 'You know, that was good. Let's do it again,'" he told EW.
"I went into a full day of taping saying, 'This is just the dream. I can't believe I have the opportunity to do this.' ... Each step of the way, I was just kind of amazed that it kept going."
How can I watch the 2023 Jeopardy! Masters tournament?
Six of the show's highest-ranked contestants will compete in two games during the 2023 Jeoprady! Masters tournament.
The tournament begins on May 8, 2023, and will be hosted by Ken Jennings, 48.
The lineup includes:
- May 8 Quarterfinals: Schneider vs. Amodio vs. He
- May 8 Quarterfinals: Holzhauer vs. Roach vs. Buttrey
The tournament can be watched live on ABC starting at 8pm EST or streamed on Hulu with an active subscription.
