OAKLAND, Calif. (NEXSTAR/BCN) – Oakland resident and reigning “Jeopardy!” champion Amy Schneider revealed on Twitter that she was robbed over the weekend, but assured her followers she was “fine” following the ordeal.
A gunman and another person robbed Schneider just after 3:30 p.m. on Sunday in the 200 block of Lenox Avenue in Oakland’s Adams Point neighborhood, near Lake Merritt, according to police.
Schneider didn’t go into specifics of the incident. She did, however, preemptively notify her fans that she may be absent from social media while she sorts everything out.
“Hi all! So, first off: I’m fine. But I got robbed yesterday, lost my ID, credit cards, and phone,” Schneider wrote. “I then couldn’t really sleep last night, and have been dragging myself around all day trying to replace everything.”
“So, I doubt I’ll even start writing tonight’s game thread today, and if I keep winning, it may take a bit for me to get caught up,” she said in a follow-up tweet. “Thanks for your patience!”
Schneider’s tweets were met with an outpouring of support from followers, some of whom advised her to put the incident behind her and “concentrate on winning” or “give ‘em hell” on “Jeopardy!”
Police said Schneider was approached by the two robbers, who demanded her property. Schneider complied and the robbers ran off. No arrests had been made as of Tuesday afternoon, according to police.
Schneider describes herself as a transgender woman, which drew the attention of LGBTQ advocates GLAAD.
“Amy Schneider’s incredible run on Jeopardy! allows families all over the country to get to know her as someone who is great at word puzzles, has in-depth knowledge on a range of topics, and who also happens to be a transgender woman,” said Nick Adams, GLAAD’s director of transgender representation. “Amy is using her history-making appearances and new platform to raise awareness of transgender issues and share a bit of her personal story too.”
Meanwhile, as host Ken Jennings noted on Monday’s episode, Schneider had once again managed to beat the dreaded “Monday curse” — i.e., the disproportionate tendency for “Jeopardy!” champions to end their streaks on a Monday.
“So apparently, of the top five super-champs, four of them have lost on a Monday,” Jennings told Schneider during Monday’s taping. “The only super-champ who did not lose on a Monday was me. I lost on a Tuesday,” he added.
Aside from Sunday’s robbery, Schneider had previously been open and forthcoming with fans via her Twitter account. Over New Year’s weekend, Schneider — the first transgender “Jeopardy!” champion to qualify for the Tournament of Champions — addressed critics who had been directing transphobic comments her way.
“I’d like to thank all the people who have taken the time, during this busy holiday season, to reach out and explain to me that, actually, I’m a man,” she wrote. “Every single one of you is the first person ever to make that very clever point, which had never once before crossed my mind.”
Schneider, an engineering manager from Oakland, California, has won $897,600 during her 24-game streak as of Monday night.
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