Mattea Roach is the latest “Jeopardy!” champ to make history.
On an earlier episode during her recent winning streak, the Canadian entered Final Jeopardy as the only contestant with a positive cash balance, meaning she was the single constant standing in Final Jeopardy – something that had only happened three times before in the show’s history.
On Wednesday, Roach, who is 23 years old, became the youngest super champion in the show's history by clinching her 17th victory in dramatic fashion – winning by just one dollar. She continued being victorious by snatching her 18th win on Thursday. Roach's total winnings now stand at $438,183.
She now currently ranks No. 8 on the all-time consecutive games list of the beloved show.
As she told Good Morning America about the whole exciting experience, "It's something that I always was interested in, in sort of a passive way. You have to be so lucky to get through all of the various stages of the selection process to get on 'Jeopardy!' So, although I thought for a long time it's something I might enjoy and might be good at, it wasn't something I ever expected to get to do."
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Roach also acknowledged a connection to another famous Canadian closely associated to “Jeopardy!” – late longtime host, Alex Trebek.
"To get to represent Canada on the 'Alex Trebek Stage' means a lot,” said Roach. “As Canadians, we're so proud of our homegrown celebrities who made it big in the U.S. And so, it didn't occur to me as I was taping these shows that I had become the longest-running Canadian [winner], but I'm really honored by the support that everyone across the country has shown me. It's so meaningful and it fills me with so much joy."
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Astute viewers may have noticed that Roach seems to talk to herself sometimes, and she revealed to GMA that she is usually praying.
"When the cameras first started rolling, and Johnny Gilbert is reading the introduction,” said Roach, “I'm kind of muttering something a little bit, and what I was saying was Hail Marys actually. I went to Catholic high school and there was a giant image of Mary in the study hall where we would write all our exams. So I started to associate praying to Mary with, I guess, anything intellectual. I figured, you know, it certainly can't hurt. It certainly didn't seem to hurt me."
Roach's streak follows previous super champion Amy Schneider, who ran off 40 game wins and walked away with a grand total of $1,382,800 in prize money. The 23-year-old will try to extend her reign during Friday's episode.
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