1
00:00:02,200 --> 00:00:05,120
Speaker 1: This is Talia Schlanger, and you're listening to Here's the

2
00:00:05,200 --> 00:00:08,840
Speaker 1: Thing from I Heart Radio. There are some people you

3
00:00:08,920 --> 00:00:10,720
Speaker 1: just can't help but fall in love with when you

4
00:00:10,720 --> 00:00:14,360
Speaker 1: see them on TV. Amy Schneider is one of those people.

5
00:00:14,760 --> 00:00:16,720
Speaker 1: She won a lot of hearts and a lot of

6
00:00:16,800 --> 00:00:20,000
Speaker 1: money when she took Jeopardy by storm earlier this year

7
00:00:20,079 --> 00:00:23,759
Speaker 1: and became the most successful woman in the show's history.

8
00:00:24,360 --> 00:00:27,319
Speaker 1: Schneider held a forty game winning streak, which is the

9
00:00:27,400 --> 00:00:31,160
Speaker 1: second longest ever, and racked up an incredible one point

10
00:00:31,200 --> 00:00:35,080
Speaker 1: three million dollars in winnings. But it was Amy Schneider's

11
00:00:35,080 --> 00:00:38,320
Speaker 1: warmth and charm behind the podium that quickly endeared her

12
00:00:38,360 --> 00:00:42,600
Speaker 1: to Jeopardy audiences around the world. Schneider is back now,

13
00:00:42,680 --> 00:00:45,880
Speaker 1: competing in the Jeopardy Tournament of Champions this month, but

14
00:00:46,000 --> 00:00:48,000
Speaker 1: before we get to that, I wanted to know what

15
00:00:48,120 --> 00:00:50,000
Speaker 1: it was like for her the first time the phone

16
00:00:50,080 --> 00:00:52,559
Speaker 1: rang and a voice on the other end said You're

17
00:00:52,560 --> 00:00:55,600
Speaker 1: going to be on Jeopardy. It was the fall of

18
00:00:57,080 --> 00:00:59,440
Speaker 1: and you know, it was something I've been trying for

19
00:00:59,440 --> 00:01:02,160
Speaker 1: for a long time. And I got a text and

20
00:01:02,160 --> 00:01:04,120
Speaker 1: it was like, Hey, this is John from Jeopardy. Do

21
00:01:04,120 --> 00:01:06,600
Speaker 1: you have time to talk this afternoon. It's it's good news.

22
00:01:06,800 --> 00:01:08,920
Speaker 1: And so I, you know, pretty much knew what it was,

23
00:01:09,000 --> 00:01:10,880
Speaker 1: and you know, we talked and he said that I

24
00:01:10,880 --> 00:01:12,679
Speaker 1: was going to be on the show. Yeah. So you've

25
00:01:12,720 --> 00:01:14,560
Speaker 1: been auditioning for years. What do you think it was

26
00:01:14,720 --> 00:01:17,759
Speaker 1: this time that made you successful? Yeah, I mean, I think,

27
00:01:17,800 --> 00:01:19,880
Speaker 1: you know, to an extent, I don't know that's the

28
00:01:20,120 --> 00:01:23,000
Speaker 1: secrets of the Jeopardy casting process, but I definitely think

29
00:01:23,040 --> 00:01:25,440
Speaker 1: a big factor was that it was the first time

30
00:01:26,080 --> 00:01:28,959
Speaker 1: I had reached the sort of in person although it

31
00:01:29,000 --> 00:01:33,360
Speaker 1: was over zoom auditions, since I transitioned, and I realized

32
00:01:33,400 --> 00:01:35,039
Speaker 1: looking back on it, I mean even when I just

33
00:01:35,080 --> 00:01:37,560
Speaker 1: looked like old pictures of myself some you know, the

34
00:01:37,560 --> 00:01:41,640
Speaker 1: occasional old videos of myself, like I'm just so closed

35
00:01:41,680 --> 00:01:44,880
Speaker 1: off and so like, you know, not wanting to reveal

36
00:01:44,920 --> 00:01:47,840
Speaker 1: anything about myself and and not wanting to give anything away,

37
00:01:48,080 --> 00:01:50,160
Speaker 1: and that, you know, is not the case anymore, and

38
00:01:50,200 --> 00:01:52,440
Speaker 1: that's that's not how I am now that I've transitioned,

39
00:01:52,560 --> 00:01:54,600
Speaker 1: And so I think I was just much more like

40
00:01:54,760 --> 00:01:57,160
Speaker 1: lively and engaging to them, you know, to be on

41
00:01:57,280 --> 00:01:59,520
Speaker 1: camera than that I had been in the past. Oh,

42
00:01:59,600 --> 00:02:02,080
Speaker 1: that's so interesting. I mean, I'm sort of done by

43
00:02:02,080 --> 00:02:04,200
Speaker 1: that right off the bat, that it's bringing your full

44
00:02:04,200 --> 00:02:06,480
Speaker 1: self to the table. Is something that allowed you to

45
00:02:07,240 --> 00:02:11,240
Speaker 1: achieve this lifelong dream. Yeah. No, And that's been like

46
00:02:11,280 --> 00:02:14,240
Speaker 1: a sort of just unexpected lesson of transitioning that that

47
00:02:14,280 --> 00:02:16,600
Speaker 1: I think can apply to a lot of people. Is that, like,

48
00:02:17,440 --> 00:02:19,480
Speaker 1: you know, I just thought it was something I had

49
00:02:19,520 --> 00:02:21,360
Speaker 1: to do and it was going to make my life

50
00:02:21,360 --> 00:02:23,240
Speaker 1: harder in a lot of ways, but I just needed to.

51
00:02:23,960 --> 00:02:26,120
Speaker 1: But then it's it's made my life easier in a

52
00:02:26,160 --> 00:02:28,200
Speaker 1: ton of ways that I just didn't think about and

53
00:02:28,240 --> 00:02:31,240
Speaker 1: didn't expect. You know that when you're being yourself and

54
00:02:31,280 --> 00:02:33,600
Speaker 1: whatever you're doing, you're you're just more successful at it

55
00:02:33,639 --> 00:02:35,680
Speaker 1: and things come easier. And that's that's not something I

56
00:02:35,720 --> 00:02:39,200
Speaker 1: expected to happen. Wow, it's so it's beautiful. And I

57
00:02:39,240 --> 00:02:41,000
Speaker 1: want to talk a little bit more about that, about

58
00:02:41,000 --> 00:02:43,040
Speaker 1: the transition later and about that part of your life.

59
00:02:43,080 --> 00:02:46,000
Speaker 1: But first, so you get the call from Jeopardy from

60
00:02:46,000 --> 00:02:48,560
Speaker 1: this text message in the in the afternoon. How long

61
00:02:48,680 --> 00:02:51,040
Speaker 1: is it between the time that you find out that

62
00:02:51,120 --> 00:02:53,200
Speaker 1: you are going to be a contestant on Jeopardy and

63
00:02:53,280 --> 00:02:54,880
Speaker 1: the time that you actually have to pack your bags

64
00:02:54,960 --> 00:02:58,120
Speaker 1: and and go walk into that studio. Yeah, so generally

65
00:02:58,320 --> 00:03:00,520
Speaker 1: it's like three or four weeks, like coming down in

66
00:03:00,520 --> 00:03:02,720
Speaker 1: three weeks, that will be the date you tape your episodes.

67
00:03:03,040 --> 00:03:06,120
Speaker 1: And I did. I flew down to l A. And

68
00:03:06,160 --> 00:03:08,200
Speaker 1: then that afternoon they called and they were like, hey,

69
00:03:08,280 --> 00:03:12,080
Speaker 1: there's been an issue like negotiations with the union over COVID,

70
00:03:12,320 --> 00:03:14,720
Speaker 1: you know, protocols or whatever, and so we're we're just

71
00:03:14,720 --> 00:03:17,520
Speaker 1: going to have to cancel taping and we'll reschedule you

72
00:03:17,560 --> 00:03:20,000
Speaker 1: for a few weeks later. So I flew back home,

73
00:03:20,040 --> 00:03:23,080
Speaker 1: and then in the intervening time, Alex passed away, and

74
00:03:23,160 --> 00:03:25,519
Speaker 1: so you know, obviously everything was kind of up in

75
00:03:25,560 --> 00:03:28,120
Speaker 1: the air, and they eventually, for for me and a

76
00:03:28,160 --> 00:03:29,920
Speaker 1: few other people that were kind of in my position

77
00:03:29,919 --> 00:03:32,640
Speaker 1: that have been rescheduled a couple of times, they decided

78
00:03:32,680 --> 00:03:35,119
Speaker 1: to just put us on hold until they were sure

79
00:03:35,160 --> 00:03:37,680
Speaker 1: things were stable and they wouldn't have to reschedule us again.

80
00:03:37,840 --> 00:03:39,800
Speaker 1: But they didn't. They didn't actually tell us that. So

81
00:03:39,840 --> 00:03:42,680
Speaker 1: I was just like waiting a year, being like, is

82
00:03:42,720 --> 00:03:45,160
Speaker 1: this really going to happen? Are they like? Have I

83
00:03:45,200 --> 00:03:47,000
Speaker 1: been tricked to a dream that it was a weird

84
00:03:47,200 --> 00:03:50,280
Speaker 1: interlude there, did you say a year? Yeah, so wait

85
00:03:50,280 --> 00:03:52,400
Speaker 1: a minute, You've achieved your dream and now you have

86
00:03:52,440 --> 00:03:55,760
Speaker 1: to wait a year and tell me what are you

87
00:03:55,840 --> 00:03:58,400
Speaker 1: doing in that year? Are you preparing yourself, are you

88
00:03:58,440 --> 00:04:02,280
Speaker 1: giving up hope? Combination of all of this. Yeah, So,

89
00:04:02,320 --> 00:04:03,720
Speaker 1: I mean, I guess what I'd say is that, like

90
00:04:04,000 --> 00:04:06,880
Speaker 1: the way the Jeopardy audition process works is that once

91
00:04:06,920 --> 00:04:10,160
Speaker 1: you get to that last stage, they just tell you, Okay,

92
00:04:10,200 --> 00:04:12,400
Speaker 1: you're in the You're in the pool for the next

93
00:04:12,440 --> 00:04:15,200
Speaker 1: eighteen months, and in that eighteen months you might get

94
00:04:15,200 --> 00:04:16,559
Speaker 1: a call to be like, hey, you're on the show.

95
00:04:17,080 --> 00:04:19,680
Speaker 1: And if you don't, then you didn't start over from

96
00:04:19,680 --> 00:04:22,920
Speaker 1: the beginning. And so it was not the first time

97
00:04:22,920 --> 00:04:24,480
Speaker 1: in my life that had been in that kind of

98
00:04:24,520 --> 00:04:27,839
Speaker 1: state of this might be happening soon, so you know,

99
00:04:27,880 --> 00:04:30,320
Speaker 1: and I was just doing kind of what I've always done,

100
00:04:30,400 --> 00:04:34,280
Speaker 1: which is basically nothing too intense, but mainly just like

101
00:04:34,360 --> 00:04:38,760
Speaker 1: during my downtimes, going through old games online, old questions

102
00:04:39,360 --> 00:04:41,039
Speaker 1: and just sort of looking for things that I was

103
00:04:41,080 --> 00:04:44,479
Speaker 1: consistently not knowing, or you know, patterns of things that

104
00:04:44,480 --> 00:04:47,240
Speaker 1: that they focus on that that might be unexpected, Like

105
00:04:47,640 --> 00:04:49,679
Speaker 1: you know, they talk about like Edith Wharton and Henry

106
00:04:49,760 --> 00:04:52,120
Speaker 1: James and like turn of the century authors, like a

107
00:04:52,160 --> 00:04:54,840
Speaker 1: lot more than most people are. You know, they have

108
00:04:54,920 --> 00:04:57,400
Speaker 1: these weird kind of like you know, things that they're

109
00:04:57,800 --> 00:05:01,480
Speaker 1: they're disproportionately focused on. So yeah, So I mean, like

110
00:05:01,720 --> 00:05:03,839
Speaker 1: that's just something that I've you know, done off and

111
00:05:03,880 --> 00:05:06,880
Speaker 1: on for the you know, twelve thirteen years that I've

112
00:05:06,920 --> 00:05:09,839
Speaker 1: been auditioning, and so I just you know, kept doing that. Wow,

113
00:05:09,920 --> 00:05:11,920
Speaker 1: So You've been preparing for this a long time, and

114
00:05:12,040 --> 00:05:14,640
Speaker 1: I think probably your whole life building up this brain network.

115
00:05:14,640 --> 00:05:16,760
Speaker 1: I want to know, what else are you reading encyclopedias?

116
00:05:16,760 --> 00:05:19,320
Speaker 1: Are you keeping up with the news, are you calling friends?

117
00:05:19,320 --> 00:05:21,200
Speaker 1: What are you doing? Yeah? One thing I'd say is

118
00:05:21,200 --> 00:05:24,320
Speaker 1: that apart from the like going through the old Jeopardy games,

119
00:05:24,360 --> 00:05:28,159
Speaker 1: like I'm not doing much like specifically studying for Jeopardy.

120
00:05:28,200 --> 00:05:30,680
Speaker 1: I've just always been just sort of curious and wanting

121
00:05:30,720 --> 00:05:33,360
Speaker 1: to explore and find out new things. So like, you know,

122
00:05:33,800 --> 00:05:36,560
Speaker 1: for you know, as long as it's been around. When

123
00:05:36,600 --> 00:05:39,120
Speaker 1: I'm protrastinating at work, one of my things I'll do

124
00:05:39,279 --> 00:05:41,760
Speaker 1: is just kind of go to Wikipedia and sort of

125
00:05:41,800 --> 00:05:44,400
Speaker 1: just like click around and find something interesting and then

126
00:05:44,440 --> 00:05:46,720
Speaker 1: and read up on it. I mean I've always been

127
00:05:46,720 --> 00:05:50,200
Speaker 1: a big reader. Sometimes starting in my like mid twenties,

128
00:05:50,240 --> 00:05:53,919
Speaker 1: I really like started gravitating towards history and reading a

129
00:05:53,920 --> 00:05:55,640
Speaker 1: lot of that. And that's that's true to this day.

130
00:05:55,680 --> 00:05:58,320
Speaker 1: That's like probably like fifty of what I read, and

131
00:05:58,440 --> 00:06:01,000
Speaker 1: so that too. I think his returns out to be

132
00:06:01,279 --> 00:06:05,040
Speaker 1: really useful for Jeopardy and you know, life, because it

133
00:06:05,120 --> 00:06:09,520
Speaker 1: kind of touches everything, like, you know, everything you know,

134
00:06:09,960 --> 00:06:12,440
Speaker 1: a good work of history will tie into you know,

135
00:06:13,160 --> 00:06:18,120
Speaker 1: economics and politics and science and gender relations and art

136
00:06:18,200 --> 00:06:20,800
Speaker 1: and and everything else. Can you know fit into that?

137
00:06:21,040 --> 00:06:24,120
Speaker 1: Oh for sure. Now there's a pattern that I think

138
00:06:24,160 --> 00:06:28,200
Speaker 1: is really interesting. You studied computer science. Ken Jennings, who's

139
00:06:28,240 --> 00:06:30,960
Speaker 1: the current host of Jeopardy and the longest reigning champion,

140
00:06:31,120 --> 00:06:35,640
Speaker 1: also studied computer science, and Matt Emotio, who is now

141
00:06:35,839 --> 00:06:38,560
Speaker 1: below you as the third longest streak in Jeopardy history

142
00:06:38,560 --> 00:06:41,320
Speaker 1: with thirty seven wins, also has a PhD in computer science.

143
00:06:42,200 --> 00:06:44,160
Speaker 1: I found that really surprising because you don't think of

144
00:06:44,200 --> 00:06:46,000
Speaker 1: that as a subject that a lot of questions are about.

145
00:06:46,000 --> 00:06:47,640
Speaker 1: But do you have a theories or something about the

146
00:06:47,640 --> 00:06:51,559
Speaker 1: computer science brain. Yeah, I think that there's a certain

147
00:06:51,600 --> 00:06:55,000
Speaker 1: type of person that gets into programming because you know,

148
00:06:55,000 --> 00:06:57,080
Speaker 1: and this is at least the case for me, because

149
00:06:57,120 --> 00:06:59,120
Speaker 1: of kind of the creative side of it. You know,

150
00:06:59,320 --> 00:07:02,440
Speaker 1: it is something that it's got the career security that

151
00:07:02,520 --> 00:07:04,760
Speaker 1: creative writing and art and things like that don't have.

152
00:07:05,200 --> 00:07:07,000
Speaker 1: But at the same time, you are kind of starting

153
00:07:07,000 --> 00:07:09,120
Speaker 1: with a blank page and being like, make a thing.

154
00:07:09,360 --> 00:07:11,400
Speaker 1: That's why some people get into it. Some people just

155
00:07:11,480 --> 00:07:14,800
Speaker 1: have these really like orderly logical minds that fit well

156
00:07:14,840 --> 00:07:16,880
Speaker 1: to it, and those I don't think are going to

157
00:07:16,960 --> 00:07:19,160
Speaker 1: be as well suited to jeopardy. But I think if

158
00:07:19,160 --> 00:07:21,240
Speaker 1: you're interested in that. And the other thing that I

159
00:07:21,360 --> 00:07:25,880
Speaker 1: found fascinating about it was that it's really about translation.

160
00:07:26,040 --> 00:07:30,040
Speaker 1: That you're taking something a human said and telling it

161
00:07:30,080 --> 00:07:33,120
Speaker 1: to a computer, and that forces you to realize all

162
00:07:33,160 --> 00:07:37,920
Speaker 1: the like unstated assumptions and you know, subtext and everything

163
00:07:37,960 --> 00:07:40,320
Speaker 1: else that go into you know, human language, because the

164
00:07:40,360 --> 00:07:42,880
Speaker 1: computer doesn't know anything, it isn't going to assume anything,

165
00:07:42,880 --> 00:07:45,000
Speaker 1: and you have to tell it all explicitly, and so

166
00:07:45,200 --> 00:07:48,320
Speaker 1: it requires you to understand things kind of in a

167
00:07:48,400 --> 00:07:50,760
Speaker 1: deep way in order to tell them to a computer.

168
00:07:51,400 --> 00:07:53,960
Speaker 1: And so if you're interested in like diving into things

169
00:07:54,000 --> 00:07:57,360
Speaker 1: like that there's a good chance that you'll apply that interest,

170
00:07:57,440 --> 00:08:00,680
Speaker 1: not just programming budget, to just whatever else. One of

171
00:08:00,720 --> 00:08:02,800
Speaker 1: the things about me, but like I always you know,

172
00:08:02,920 --> 00:08:06,080
Speaker 1: didn't quite fit in in the industry, was that like

173
00:08:06,320 --> 00:08:09,320
Speaker 1: a lot of programmers will work all day and then

174
00:08:09,360 --> 00:08:12,040
Speaker 1: go home and then write more code at night for

175
00:08:12,080 --> 00:08:14,400
Speaker 1: their own personal projects. And that was never me. I

176
00:08:14,440 --> 00:08:16,160
Speaker 1: was like, that's fine for the day, but I've got

177
00:08:16,240 --> 00:08:17,600
Speaker 1: other stuff I want to do with the rest of

178
00:08:17,640 --> 00:08:20,600
Speaker 1: my time, like what oh, you know, like I've always

179
00:08:20,680 --> 00:08:23,560
Speaker 1: had like various half finished projects going on, like if

180
00:08:23,560 --> 00:08:25,560
Speaker 1: I've always needed to have something creative going on in

181
00:08:25,600 --> 00:08:27,720
Speaker 1: my life. For for most of my life, that was theater,

182
00:08:28,040 --> 00:08:30,440
Speaker 1: and it was like if I went, you know, maybe

183
00:08:30,600 --> 00:08:32,560
Speaker 1: six months without being in a play, I'd get like

184
00:08:32,600 --> 00:08:34,760
Speaker 1: itchy and I feel like I needed to do it again.

185
00:08:35,040 --> 00:08:37,040
Speaker 1: And then in the last ten years or so, it's

186
00:08:37,080 --> 00:08:39,120
Speaker 1: just the time commitment, I just haven't really been able

187
00:08:39,160 --> 00:08:41,440
Speaker 1: to do that. So I've been finding other things I've done,

188
00:08:41,480 --> 00:08:43,920
Speaker 1: like stand up comedy. One of the big things I've

189
00:08:43,920 --> 00:08:46,560
Speaker 1: done was podcasting at a Doubt Nappy podcast. For a

190
00:08:46,600 --> 00:08:48,960
Speaker 1: long time, that until now was my claim to fame.

191
00:08:49,000 --> 00:08:51,880
Speaker 1: It was it was reasonably successful. I've got probably like

192
00:08:52,120 --> 00:08:54,720
Speaker 1: ten twenty things that are like ideas I had and

193
00:08:54,760 --> 00:08:57,480
Speaker 1: started on and abandoned that I intend to pick up

194
00:08:57,520 --> 00:09:01,080
Speaker 1: again someday. Yeah. Okay, wait, we're taking a little detour here,

195
00:09:01,080 --> 00:09:02,559
Speaker 1: but I have to know, is there a dream role

196
00:09:02,600 --> 00:09:04,520
Speaker 1: that you have in theater that you'd like to play

197
00:09:04,520 --> 00:09:07,000
Speaker 1: one day? Yeah? I think, you know, I think I

198
00:09:07,280 --> 00:09:09,640
Speaker 1: wound up like doing a lot of comic roles in

199
00:09:09,760 --> 00:09:12,520
Speaker 1: my time, so definitely one of the like big, you know,

200
00:09:12,600 --> 00:09:15,520
Speaker 1: tragedy ones. I think both McBeth and Lady McBeth are

201
00:09:15,559 --> 00:09:18,959
Speaker 1: fascinating roles that i'd be by be interested in. I think, yeah,

202
00:09:18,960 --> 00:09:21,760
Speaker 1: oh wow, imagine playing both of them on alternating nights

203
00:09:21,840 --> 00:09:24,760
Speaker 1: or something like that. Right, Yeah, that would be something

204
00:09:25,040 --> 00:09:27,080
Speaker 1: that would be fascinating. Oh and the other one would

205
00:09:27,120 --> 00:09:29,719
Speaker 1: be one of the three leads in Rosencranson Guild and

206
00:09:29,760 --> 00:09:32,719
Speaker 1: Sturner Dead. That's that's maybe my favorite play. M M.

207
00:09:33,120 --> 00:09:35,360
Speaker 1: I love it. Okay, back to Jeopardy. So we've got

208
00:09:35,440 --> 00:09:37,599
Speaker 1: the brain prep and I guess it sounds to me

209
00:09:37,640 --> 00:09:40,000
Speaker 1: almost I'm picturing like neural networks that you're building in

210
00:09:40,080 --> 00:09:42,880
Speaker 1: your in your mind almost as a web for mental preparation.

211
00:09:42,920 --> 00:09:47,280
Speaker 1: But then there's also the physical preparation of button clicking,

212
00:09:47,880 --> 00:09:50,200
Speaker 1: buzzer pressing, Like you got to be good at the buzzer,

213
00:09:50,280 --> 00:09:52,800
Speaker 1: So how did you go about preparing for that aspect

214
00:09:52,880 --> 00:09:55,120
Speaker 1: of being on Jeopardy. Yeah, I mean, you know, there's

215
00:09:55,160 --> 00:09:57,040
Speaker 1: only so much you can do, so I definitely i'd

216
00:09:57,080 --> 00:10:00,520
Speaker 1: read you know, past champions and the advice of they've given,

217
00:10:00,840 --> 00:10:02,959
Speaker 1: and certainly, you know, when I was watching the game

218
00:10:03,000 --> 00:10:05,199
Speaker 1: at home, i'd have like a ballpoint pen just to

219
00:10:05,240 --> 00:10:11,000
Speaker 1: sort of get in the habit of like that. Absolutely okay,

220
00:10:11,360 --> 00:10:13,360
Speaker 1: But the thing about it is like you can't really know,

221
00:10:13,679 --> 00:10:16,800
Speaker 1: Like the way the buzzer works is that there's somebody

222
00:10:16,920 --> 00:10:19,400
Speaker 1: flipping a switch that enables them and turns on some

223
00:10:19,559 --> 00:10:21,400
Speaker 1: lights by the side of the board when the when

224
00:10:21,440 --> 00:10:25,120
Speaker 1: the host finishes the question, and if you buzz in

225
00:10:25,440 --> 00:10:28,800
Speaker 1: before they've flipped that switch, then when they do flip

226
00:10:28,840 --> 00:10:31,320
Speaker 1: the switch, your buzzer is locked out for a quarter second,

227
00:10:31,480 --> 00:10:32,880
Speaker 1: and so other people will be able to get in

228
00:10:32,880 --> 00:10:35,400
Speaker 1: ahead of you. And so it's really like it's just

229
00:10:35,559 --> 00:10:38,800
Speaker 1: all about like, you know, being in tune with that

230
00:10:38,960 --> 00:10:42,200
Speaker 1: person and you know, no, you know, feeling when they're

231
00:10:42,200 --> 00:10:44,040
Speaker 1: about to do it so like I had, you know,

232
00:10:44,120 --> 00:10:45,640
Speaker 1: I had read that advice and I went in with

233
00:10:45,720 --> 00:10:48,360
Speaker 1: a certain strategy of like, okay, you sort of aim

234
00:10:48,400 --> 00:10:51,319
Speaker 1: for like the last syllable of the clue as the

235
00:10:51,400 --> 00:10:54,160
Speaker 1: hostess reading it and things like that, and it was

236
00:10:54,240 --> 00:10:57,559
Speaker 1: doing okay, but it wasn't really it wasn't doing well enough.

237
00:10:57,600 --> 00:10:59,200
Speaker 1: I mean, it was up against this really good champion

238
00:10:59,240 --> 00:11:02,240
Speaker 1: in my first game, and so for whatever reason, I

239
00:11:02,360 --> 00:11:04,160
Speaker 1: just in the middle of it was just just decided

240
00:11:04,200 --> 00:11:06,400
Speaker 1: to kind of throw that out and just stop trying

241
00:11:06,720 --> 00:11:09,679
Speaker 1: to time it and just going by like intuition and

242
00:11:09,920 --> 00:11:12,960
Speaker 1: just feeling when the right moment was. And it worked

243
00:11:13,080 --> 00:11:14,839
Speaker 1: and it it kept working. So you know, it's like,

244
00:11:14,880 --> 00:11:16,280
Speaker 1: I don't know if that would work for everyone, but

245
00:11:16,360 --> 00:11:18,680
Speaker 1: that that's how it was for me. Let's talk about

246
00:11:18,720 --> 00:11:21,040
Speaker 1: that first game. Tell me what it was like the

247
00:11:21,200 --> 00:11:24,959
Speaker 1: first time you walked onto the Alextro Bug stage at

248
00:11:25,120 --> 00:11:28,120
Speaker 1: Sony Pictures Studios, Like, what how did it compare to

249
00:11:28,240 --> 00:11:31,600
Speaker 1: what you had dreamed of? Yeah, walking on the stage

250
00:11:31,840 --> 00:11:35,120
Speaker 1: was you know, it was a lot And that was

251
00:11:35,240 --> 00:11:37,199
Speaker 1: really I think the biggest, you know, some of the

252
00:11:37,240 --> 00:11:39,400
Speaker 1: most important preparation I did was in the last week

253
00:11:39,480 --> 00:11:42,880
Speaker 1: or two before taping, because I realized that, like I

254
00:11:43,080 --> 00:11:47,600
Speaker 1: was so afraid of losing that like it was getting

255
00:11:47,800 --> 00:11:51,800
Speaker 1: kind of paralyzing and becoming counterproductive. And so really in

256
00:11:51,920 --> 00:11:54,839
Speaker 1: that time, I was really focusing on lowering the stakes

257
00:11:54,880 --> 00:11:57,839
Speaker 1: for myself and saying, it's fine, like if you go

258
00:11:57,960 --> 00:12:00,480
Speaker 1: on and lose, you go on and lose. It's definitely

259
00:12:00,520 --> 00:12:02,679
Speaker 1: a possibility that really might happen, and it would be

260
00:12:02,760 --> 00:12:05,520
Speaker 1: okay if it did, you know, and you're just there

261
00:12:05,640 --> 00:12:08,960
Speaker 1: to like be in the moment, have fun, enjoy the experience,

262
00:12:09,600 --> 00:12:12,160
Speaker 1: and let the chips fall where they may. And so,

263
00:12:12,440 --> 00:12:15,240
Speaker 1: you know, I was definitely it was definitely an effort

264
00:12:15,320 --> 00:12:17,920
Speaker 1: that that you know, anxiety and that tension and everything

265
00:12:18,040 --> 00:12:19,800
Speaker 1: was still trying to creep in there, and I was

266
00:12:19,960 --> 00:12:23,120
Speaker 1: like having to actively hold it down. But I'm glad

267
00:12:23,160 --> 00:12:24,920
Speaker 1: I really did that preparation. I don't I think I

268
00:12:24,960 --> 00:12:27,679
Speaker 1: wouldn't have had a chance without it. That's massive, I mean,

269
00:12:27,720 --> 00:12:29,719
Speaker 1: it's a whole It sounds to me like like what

270
00:12:29,840 --> 00:12:31,920
Speaker 1: an elite athlete would have to do in order to

271
00:12:32,240 --> 00:12:34,360
Speaker 1: cite themselves up for an Olympic game or to like

272
00:12:34,440 --> 00:12:37,000
Speaker 1: to keep their head in it. Yeah. Absolutely, it's funny

273
00:12:37,000 --> 00:12:40,480
Speaker 1: because I am a sports fan, and like, I don't

274
00:12:40,559 --> 00:12:43,080
Speaker 1: hang out I hang out with like, you know, actors

275
00:12:43,080 --> 00:12:45,319
Speaker 1: and comedians and artists, and like I never have anybody

276
00:12:45,360 --> 00:12:48,480
Speaker 1: to talk sports with. But it was like, especially as

277
00:12:48,520 --> 00:12:50,800
Speaker 1: it went on, I really was finding myself being like,

278
00:12:51,120 --> 00:12:54,000
Speaker 1: I really start to understand these sort of sports cliches

279
00:12:54,080 --> 00:12:56,760
Speaker 1: and the sort of like the answers that athletes given

280
00:12:56,840 --> 00:12:59,480
Speaker 1: interviews that are kind of like formulaic. Like I really

281
00:12:59,520 --> 00:13:02,800
Speaker 1: started to see that competition and that that trying to

282
00:13:02,880 --> 00:13:05,719
Speaker 1: be you know, completely focused, trying to be at the

283
00:13:05,760 --> 00:13:08,800
Speaker 1: peak of your game. I was surprised by how suddenly

284
00:13:08,920 --> 00:13:12,079
Speaker 1: relatable I felt like professional athletes were, oh yeah, and

285
00:13:12,120 --> 00:13:13,839
Speaker 1: the endurance of it as well, Like I read somewhere

286
00:13:13,880 --> 00:13:17,400
Speaker 1: that you tape five episodes in a day, which is

287
00:13:17,440 --> 00:13:19,679
Speaker 1: fine if you're you know, in for a couple episodes

288
00:13:19,720 --> 00:13:22,040
Speaker 1: and then you lose, But if you're on a forty

289
00:13:22,120 --> 00:13:24,599
Speaker 1: game winning street, can you please paint the picture for

290
00:13:24,679 --> 00:13:27,959
Speaker 1: me of like what it is like to actually compete

291
00:13:28,000 --> 00:13:32,439
Speaker 1: in five full episodes of Jeopardy one day. It's a lot,

292
00:13:32,640 --> 00:13:35,199
Speaker 1: you know. One thing about it is that during the

293
00:13:35,280 --> 00:13:37,920
Speaker 1: game itself, like it goes at such a fast pace

294
00:13:38,120 --> 00:13:40,920
Speaker 1: that it's like there's like not time to be fatigued

295
00:13:41,000 --> 00:13:43,040
Speaker 1: or whatever. Like you you sort of don't notice it,

296
00:13:43,280 --> 00:13:46,520
Speaker 1: but yeah, I mean, especially like after the first full

297
00:13:46,600 --> 00:13:49,199
Speaker 1: day that I did, I definitely I was just so

298
00:13:49,360 --> 00:13:51,839
Speaker 1: physically tired. At the end of it. I really focused on,

299
00:13:52,240 --> 00:13:54,239
Speaker 1: you know, the next day, I was there really conserving

300
00:13:54,280 --> 00:13:57,400
Speaker 1: my energy through everything else through through the rest of

301
00:13:57,440 --> 00:14:00,679
Speaker 1: the day, Like every time the cameras rof I was

302
00:14:00,800 --> 00:14:03,520
Speaker 1: like leaning on the podium and like stretching out my legs,

303
00:14:03,559 --> 00:14:06,040
Speaker 1: giving my feet a rest, that sort of thing, because

304
00:14:06,080 --> 00:14:08,439
Speaker 1: it is it's it's like an eleven hour day and

305
00:14:09,120 --> 00:14:11,040
Speaker 1: you do too a week, and like by the end

306
00:14:11,080 --> 00:14:13,840
Speaker 1: of that second day, it was just like I was done.

307
00:14:14,400 --> 00:14:16,400
Speaker 1: How do you even have the energy to walk like

308
00:14:16,600 --> 00:14:17,959
Speaker 1: go back to your hotel? You just go back to

309
00:14:17,960 --> 00:14:20,440
Speaker 1: your hotel room and flop on the bed. I did.

310
00:14:20,680 --> 00:14:23,520
Speaker 1: I did. I would go and just lie down and

311
00:14:23,720 --> 00:14:26,040
Speaker 1: like do nothing, Like I wouldn't look at my phone,

312
00:14:26,080 --> 00:14:29,840
Speaker 1: I wouldn't think, I wouldn't like just do anything, just

313
00:14:29,960 --> 00:14:33,040
Speaker 1: like lie there until I could like start the function again. Yeah. Yeah,

314
00:14:33,080 --> 00:14:35,240
Speaker 1: And it's so weird too, because you're having this experience

315
00:14:35,320 --> 00:14:37,440
Speaker 1: kind of privately, like it's not airing as it's taping.

316
00:14:37,480 --> 00:14:40,280
Speaker 1: You're taping these episodes that will air, you know, months

317
00:14:40,320 --> 00:14:42,520
Speaker 1: in advance, So that has to be a very strange

318
00:14:42,520 --> 00:14:45,360
Speaker 1: feeling as well. I would think it definitely was. I mean,

319
00:14:45,400 --> 00:14:48,120
Speaker 1: I think overall, I'm glad that it worked that way.

320
00:14:48,240 --> 00:14:50,160
Speaker 1: I think, you know, a few things, Like one is

321
00:14:50,240 --> 00:14:52,480
Speaker 1: that I was really bummed as it was leading up

322
00:14:52,520 --> 00:14:54,360
Speaker 1: to my final episode because I knew. I was like, Oh,

323
00:14:54,480 --> 00:14:55,920
Speaker 1: all these people are going to be so sad that

324
00:14:56,000 --> 00:14:58,120
Speaker 1: I lose, you know. And so if I if my

325
00:14:58,160 --> 00:15:00,160
Speaker 1: episodes have been airing, and I'd sort of had at

326
00:15:00,240 --> 00:15:03,000
Speaker 1: pressure of like knowing that people were like rooting for me,

327
00:15:03,160 --> 00:15:05,480
Speaker 1: that that would have made it harder, I think, And

328
00:15:05,560 --> 00:15:08,120
Speaker 1: I think that, you know. And it also like and

329
00:15:08,160 --> 00:15:10,080
Speaker 1: there was no studio audience. It was just the other

330
00:15:10,160 --> 00:15:12,600
Speaker 1: contestants and the crew, and so that also made it

331
00:15:12,680 --> 00:15:15,800
Speaker 1: easier to just ignore the cameras and not worry too

332
00:15:15,880 --> 00:15:18,560
Speaker 1: much about that stuff. But then when I was at

333
00:15:18,600 --> 00:15:20,680
Speaker 1: home and and and you know, and then in the

334
00:15:20,720 --> 00:15:22,480
Speaker 1: weeks after I was done taping and leading up to

335
00:15:22,560 --> 00:15:25,960
Speaker 1: the airing of the episodes, that was really strange. You know.

336
00:15:26,040 --> 00:15:28,040
Speaker 1: I told a few people, probably more than I really

337
00:15:28,080 --> 00:15:30,080
Speaker 1: should have, but you know, still it was it was

338
00:15:30,160 --> 00:15:32,360
Speaker 1: a secret from a lot of people, and it was

339
00:15:32,440 --> 00:15:35,640
Speaker 1: just like I knew I had done this historic thing,

340
00:15:35,720 --> 00:15:37,080
Speaker 1: and I knew that this was going to be a

341
00:15:37,240 --> 00:15:40,640
Speaker 1: huge deal and you know, kind of a life changing thing,

342
00:15:41,240 --> 00:15:44,280
Speaker 1: and yet nobody knew about it, and I couldn't talk

343
00:15:44,320 --> 00:15:47,040
Speaker 1: about it. It was it was really weird. Oh, for sure,

344
00:15:47,120 --> 00:15:49,440
Speaker 1: it had to be. Were you watching the episodes with people?

345
00:15:49,840 --> 00:15:52,800
Speaker 1: Certainly Genevieve every night, my girlfriend at the time, and

346
00:15:53,200 --> 00:15:55,760
Speaker 1: you know, reasonably often we'd go over. There's a you know,

347
00:15:55,800 --> 00:15:57,400
Speaker 1: a couple that lives near Ross. We would go over

348
00:15:57,400 --> 00:15:59,440
Speaker 1: to their house. For the first episode, we had like

349
00:15:59,520 --> 00:16:02,280
Speaker 1: a whole watch party, like my friend's got an airbnb

350
00:16:02,440 --> 00:16:04,320
Speaker 1: and we had like eight or ten people, and like

351
00:16:04,520 --> 00:16:06,520
Speaker 1: it was it was a whole event, and we kind

352
00:16:06,520 --> 00:16:08,520
Speaker 1: of did a bit for the last episode two, but

353
00:16:09,040 --> 00:16:11,000
Speaker 1: otherwise it was just like, yeah, we were just kind

354
00:16:11,000 --> 00:16:13,720
Speaker 1: of living our lives and you know, if somebody happened

355
00:16:13,720 --> 00:16:15,120
Speaker 1: to be over, we'd watch with them, and if not,

356
00:16:15,240 --> 00:16:17,040
Speaker 1: it was just with us. You're probably like, if we

357
00:16:17,120 --> 00:16:20,240
Speaker 1: have a watch party every episode that I'm on Friends,

358
00:16:20,320 --> 00:16:22,160
Speaker 1: you're in for a long like a month and a

359
00:16:22,160 --> 00:16:24,640
Speaker 1: half of Watch period. I mean that was the other thing.

360
00:16:24,720 --> 00:16:26,960
Speaker 1: Those those first couple of episodes. I'm getting, like the

361
00:16:27,040 --> 00:16:29,360
Speaker 1: first you know, five episodes. I've got these people who

362
00:16:29,360 --> 00:16:30,960
Speaker 1: are text me every time being like, oh, good job,

363
00:16:31,040 --> 00:16:33,880
Speaker 1: and I'm like, you don't know what you've the commitment

364
00:16:33,920 --> 00:16:36,240
Speaker 1: you've signed up for if you're going to be texting

365
00:16:36,320 --> 00:16:43,720
Speaker 1: this every time. Jeopardy champion Amy Schneider. If you like

366
00:16:43,880 --> 00:16:47,360
Speaker 1: conversations about competitive game shows, check out our episode with

367
00:16:47,520 --> 00:16:51,200
Speaker 1: host of That's My jam An, executive producer of Password,

368
00:16:51,560 --> 00:16:55,720
Speaker 1: Jimmy Fallon. My mom goes, you know that Tom Cruise

369
00:16:55,840 --> 00:16:58,640
Speaker 1: is great. Thanks watching. He looked really good with his

370
00:16:58,760 --> 00:17:02,120
Speaker 1: long hand. You, he says his Tom Cruise, Yeah, I

371
00:17:02,160 --> 00:17:04,520
Speaker 1: really liked his long hair. I go, yeah, he looks

372
00:17:04,560 --> 00:17:07,200
Speaker 1: good with long hair. He's Tom Cruise. Yeah I really

373
00:17:07,320 --> 00:17:09,440
Speaker 1: like his long hair. I go, I heard you the

374
00:17:09,480 --> 00:17:13,440
Speaker 1: first three time. Okay, I'm giving you a hint to

375
00:17:14,040 --> 00:17:17,919
Speaker 1: grow your hair out. It's too short to hang up

376
00:17:17,960 --> 00:17:20,320
Speaker 1: the phone. Oh, I started hooking up. I started make hands,

377
00:17:20,320 --> 00:17:24,800
Speaker 1: returning green, I short started a rip. Here more of

378
00:17:24,960 --> 00:17:28,800
Speaker 1: Alex conversation with Jimmy Fallon in our archives at Here's

379
00:17:28,800 --> 00:17:31,680
Speaker 1: the Thing dot org. After the break, I talked to

380
00:17:31,760 --> 00:17:34,640
Speaker 1: Amy Schneider about the mixed feelings she had when her

381
00:17:34,760 --> 00:17:48,040
Speaker 1: epic Jeopardy run finally ended. I'm Talia Schlanger, and you're

382
00:17:48,119 --> 00:17:52,159
Speaker 1: listening to Here's the thing. Amy Schneider broke multiple records

383
00:17:52,240 --> 00:17:55,080
Speaker 1: in her Jeopardy run this winter. She's currently number five

384
00:17:55,200 --> 00:17:58,600
Speaker 1: on the all time total winnings list. She also holds

385
00:17:58,640 --> 00:18:02,560
Speaker 1: the second longest of victory streak and is the winningest

386
00:18:02,640 --> 00:18:06,119
Speaker 1: woman in Jeopardy history. I was curious about her strategy

387
00:18:06,240 --> 00:18:10,639
Speaker 1: for tackling the infamous Jeopardy board. The one sort of

388
00:18:10,800 --> 00:18:13,240
Speaker 1: like specific strategy thing I had was to like go

389
00:18:13,400 --> 00:18:16,040
Speaker 1: after categories that I felt weaker in first, so that

390
00:18:16,080 --> 00:18:17,679
Speaker 1: there wouldn't be as much money at stake if there

391
00:18:17,720 --> 00:18:20,119
Speaker 1: is a daily double. But beyond that, my sort of

392
00:18:20,640 --> 00:18:23,440
Speaker 1: meta strategy or that, the way I was thinking about

393
00:18:23,480 --> 00:18:25,680
Speaker 1: it was, I just wanted as few things to think

394
00:18:25,720 --> 00:18:28,960
Speaker 1: about as possible, so I didn't do too much about

395
00:18:29,040 --> 00:18:31,560
Speaker 1: like thinking about like, you know, a lot of recent

396
00:18:31,640 --> 00:18:33,680
Speaker 1: champions have gone for the higher value that you know,

397
00:18:33,760 --> 00:18:36,000
Speaker 1: amounts first, or like jumping around to keep it, pull

398
00:18:36,000 --> 00:18:38,359
Speaker 1: off balance or things like that, and I didn't want

399
00:18:38,359 --> 00:18:40,359
Speaker 1: to do that for a couple of reasons. One is

400
00:18:40,440 --> 00:18:42,800
Speaker 1: that you know, it was an extra thing to think about,

401
00:18:43,119 --> 00:18:45,560
Speaker 1: and it would you know, I wanted a simple just

402
00:18:45,720 --> 00:18:47,919
Speaker 1: like choose the next clue in the category and then

403
00:18:47,960 --> 00:18:49,840
Speaker 1: I don't have to think about and make that decision.

404
00:18:50,000 --> 00:18:51,440
Speaker 1: But the other thing is I've been watching the show

405
00:18:51,480 --> 00:18:53,280
Speaker 1: my whole life, and I know that it makes the

406
00:18:53,320 --> 00:18:56,879
Speaker 1: show better. And you know, I love the show, and

407
00:18:57,320 --> 00:18:58,800
Speaker 1: I knew it had have been having a tough time,

408
00:18:58,880 --> 00:19:01,920
Speaker 1: and especially as I was going on, I just like

409
00:19:02,400 --> 00:19:04,639
Speaker 1: I wanted to serve the show and put on a

410
00:19:04,680 --> 00:19:06,639
Speaker 1: good show and understand the people at home, and I

411
00:19:06,760 --> 00:19:09,119
Speaker 1: knew that they would appreciate that you did. I think

412
00:19:09,160 --> 00:19:11,240
Speaker 1: people really fell in love with you. My folks would

413
00:19:11,359 --> 00:19:13,960
Speaker 1: tell me about you all the time, like how like

414
00:19:14,080 --> 00:19:16,400
Speaker 1: they and they're they're not alone, Like so many people

415
00:19:16,440 --> 00:19:18,280
Speaker 1: really just fell fell in love with you, and I

416
00:19:18,359 --> 00:19:23,240
Speaker 1: think really enjoyed rooting for you. And it's probably weird

417
00:19:23,320 --> 00:19:25,080
Speaker 1: to analyze yourself in this way, but I mean, you've

418
00:19:25,119 --> 00:19:26,879
Speaker 1: watched yourself on the show. I don't know if you

419
00:19:27,000 --> 00:19:30,760
Speaker 1: have a take or an idea about what that is. Yeah,

420
00:19:30,800 --> 00:19:33,040
Speaker 1: I mean I I do. I think that you know,

421
00:19:33,160 --> 00:19:36,560
Speaker 1: I definitely had like debated going in about like how

422
00:19:36,760 --> 00:19:39,119
Speaker 1: was going to present myself in in certain ways and

423
00:19:39,520 --> 00:19:41,880
Speaker 1: like around my femininity and my voice and different things

424
00:19:41,960 --> 00:19:44,080
Speaker 1: like that, and also you know, just in general, how

425
00:19:44,119 --> 00:19:47,400
Speaker 1: do I want to be on TV? And I eventually

426
00:19:47,440 --> 00:19:50,920
Speaker 1: decided partly in that like don't give myself too many variables.

427
00:19:51,040 --> 00:19:53,200
Speaker 1: Was just like, I'm just going to be myself and

428
00:19:53,320 --> 00:19:56,200
Speaker 1: be as just like authentic as I can be. And

429
00:19:57,000 --> 00:19:59,560
Speaker 1: because if I did that, then I knew that I

430
00:19:59,600 --> 00:20:02,040
Speaker 1: would be okay with how I came off on TV,

431
00:20:02,320 --> 00:20:04,520
Speaker 1: whether or not, you know, people liked it or connected

432
00:20:04,560 --> 00:20:06,240
Speaker 1: with it or whatever, you know, And so I wasn't

433
00:20:06,240 --> 00:20:08,600
Speaker 1: really worrying about whether I'd be connecting with people or not.

434
00:20:08,840 --> 00:20:11,760
Speaker 1: I was just focused on, you know, ignore that, stay

435
00:20:11,800 --> 00:20:14,680
Speaker 1: in the game, be myself, and what will happen happens.

436
00:20:14,800 --> 00:20:17,920
Speaker 1: And I think absolutely I think that people saw that,

437
00:20:18,320 --> 00:20:20,359
Speaker 1: and you know, saw that they were seeing like the

438
00:20:20,440 --> 00:20:23,000
Speaker 1: real me, and and that's what they responded to. Yeah,

439
00:20:23,440 --> 00:20:27,040
Speaker 1: regarding your your voice and your choice to speak in

440
00:20:27,119 --> 00:20:30,720
Speaker 1: your natural speaking register, can you explain to me, like

441
00:20:30,920 --> 00:20:35,360
Speaker 1: have you done gender affirming voice therapy in your outside

442
00:20:35,359 --> 00:20:38,560
Speaker 1: of Jeopardy life to speak a bit differently? I did

443
00:20:38,720 --> 00:20:40,359
Speaker 1: it was It was a few years ago, earlier in

444
00:20:40,440 --> 00:20:43,280
Speaker 1: my transition, and if I was put to it, I

445
00:20:43,760 --> 00:20:46,120
Speaker 1: could like speak in a more feminine voice. It's about

446
00:20:46,240 --> 00:20:48,280
Speaker 1: like just first of all, it's just like you know,

447
00:20:48,359 --> 00:20:51,000
Speaker 1: speaking that higher pitch, but there's also other things about

448
00:20:51,119 --> 00:20:54,040
Speaker 1: like being breathier, like speaking more in your head and

449
00:20:54,119 --> 00:20:56,520
Speaker 1: less in your chest, doing more up talk and being

450
00:20:56,600 --> 00:20:58,520
Speaker 1: more pleasant that way, and that sort of thing, which

451
00:20:58,520 --> 00:21:00,760
Speaker 1: I kind of do naturally anyway, And that was my

452
00:21:00,880 --> 00:21:02,639
Speaker 1: intention was to do that because I really, you know,

453
00:21:02,880 --> 00:21:06,280
Speaker 1: I going into this in particular, I really didn't like

454
00:21:06,440 --> 00:21:09,040
Speaker 1: my voice. I didn't like hearing it. I you know,

455
00:21:09,080 --> 00:21:10,600
Speaker 1: I've done a podcast. I was used to hearing it,

456
00:21:10,640 --> 00:21:13,520
Speaker 1: but I never liked it getting called sir on the

457
00:21:13,600 --> 00:21:15,719
Speaker 1: phone would like really like bump me out a lot,

458
00:21:15,800 --> 00:21:18,240
Speaker 1: and all those sorts of things. And so I really

459
00:21:18,280 --> 00:21:21,160
Speaker 1: couldn't imagine like not doing that feminine voice on TV

460
00:21:21,600 --> 00:21:23,840
Speaker 1: until like the days leading up to it, and it

461
00:21:23,960 --> 00:21:26,080
Speaker 1: just suddenly felt wrong and in ways that I couldn't

462
00:21:26,160 --> 00:21:28,720
Speaker 1: quite define to myself at the time. But it was

463
00:21:28,800 --> 00:21:31,600
Speaker 1: the right decision. I think that. For one thing, like

464
00:21:32,200 --> 00:21:35,000
Speaker 1: it kind of forced me through that dysphoria and that

465
00:21:35,160 --> 00:21:38,639
Speaker 1: dislike because everybody liked me fine, and it wasn't the

466
00:21:38,680 --> 00:21:41,040
Speaker 1: big problem that you know, it's that was in my head.

467
00:21:41,760 --> 00:21:44,280
Speaker 1: And the other thing that I realized afterwards that I

468
00:21:44,320 --> 00:21:47,119
Speaker 1: think I was subconsciously thinking about is that, you know,

469
00:21:47,520 --> 00:21:51,000
Speaker 1: this is how most trans women's voice sounds. Like changing

470
00:21:51,040 --> 00:21:54,120
Speaker 1: your voice is is doable, but it's like really hard

471
00:21:54,200 --> 00:21:56,159
Speaker 1: and a really weird thing to do, and it's a

472
00:21:56,320 --> 00:22:00,240
Speaker 1: very I think most trans women like give up on

473
00:22:00,320 --> 00:22:03,600
Speaker 1: it because it just feels so unnatural and awkward. I

474
00:22:03,640 --> 00:22:05,560
Speaker 1: knew the trans people would be watching me because I

475
00:22:05,600 --> 00:22:08,680
Speaker 1: watched trans contestants on Jeopardy and like really like focused

476
00:22:08,720 --> 00:22:11,280
Speaker 1: in on them, and so I wanted to I didn't

477
00:22:11,280 --> 00:22:14,640
Speaker 1: want to give them like too high of a sort

478
00:22:14,680 --> 00:22:16,639
Speaker 1: of standard to reach, if you will. I didn't want

479
00:22:16,640 --> 00:22:18,880
Speaker 1: to give them this ideal that might feel less attainable

480
00:22:18,920 --> 00:22:22,320
Speaker 1: to them. Wow. I think it also if we go

481
00:22:22,400 --> 00:22:24,520
Speaker 1: back to the elite athlete thing, you had a job

482
00:22:24,640 --> 00:22:27,439
Speaker 1: to do, like you need every bit of your mental

483
00:22:27,640 --> 00:22:32,360
Speaker 1: energy and your physical energy to compete on this program,

484
00:22:32,600 --> 00:22:35,480
Speaker 1: and the idea of having to do an extra little

485
00:22:35,520 --> 00:22:38,439
Speaker 1: bit of mental math or even like reading a slightly

486
00:22:38,480 --> 00:22:40,879
Speaker 1: different way you went for it. You gave yourself the

487
00:22:40,920 --> 00:22:43,760
Speaker 1: best chance to compete. Absolutely, no. I mean it is

488
00:22:43,880 --> 00:22:45,880
Speaker 1: like most of what I was doing in that preparation

489
00:22:46,040 --> 00:22:48,800
Speaker 1: was just thinking about you know, again, I've been telling everybody,

490
00:22:48,960 --> 00:22:50,399
Speaker 1: I went on that show to win money, you know,

491
00:22:50,480 --> 00:22:52,119
Speaker 1: that was that was what I was going there to do.

492
00:22:52,480 --> 00:22:55,000
Speaker 1: But like, I'm so glad that I went with the

493
00:22:55,040 --> 00:22:57,119
Speaker 1: approaches I went with and and all that sort of thing.

494
00:22:57,200 --> 00:23:00,040
Speaker 1: They had so many more benefits than just giving me

495
00:23:00,119 --> 00:23:02,000
Speaker 1: a better chance to win. Like, I really learned a

496
00:23:02,160 --> 00:23:05,239
Speaker 1: lot about myself through this process. Yeah, did you hear

497
00:23:05,280 --> 00:23:07,760
Speaker 1: from trans people about that particular issue about your voice?

498
00:23:07,960 --> 00:23:10,840
Speaker 1: I did. It was funny. I was really surprised by

499
00:23:12,160 --> 00:23:14,200
Speaker 1: a lot of different stuff that I talked about, like

500
00:23:14,600 --> 00:23:17,320
Speaker 1: somebody connected with you know, I talked about having an

501
00:23:17,359 --> 00:23:20,160
Speaker 1: older sister that died in infancy before I was born,

502
00:23:20,359 --> 00:23:22,879
Speaker 1: and I heard from several people about that. You know,

503
00:23:22,960 --> 00:23:26,000
Speaker 1: I've talked about having a d h d on on

504
00:23:26,080 --> 00:23:28,959
Speaker 1: Twitter and people connecting about that. So, you know, all

505
00:23:29,000 --> 00:23:31,919
Speaker 1: the stuff I've talked, like, you know, everything I've experienced,

506
00:23:32,000 --> 00:23:35,520
Speaker 1: somebody else has experienced, and you know, finding all those

507
00:23:35,600 --> 00:23:38,119
Speaker 1: connections has been you know, I think that's been another

508
00:23:38,640 --> 00:23:40,920
Speaker 1: amazing thing coming out of this is to feel so

509
00:23:41,040 --> 00:23:44,080
Speaker 1: much less alone in these various things, for sure, And

510
00:23:44,160 --> 00:23:45,800
Speaker 1: I think for people to see you. I mean, in

511
00:23:45,880 --> 00:23:50,440
Speaker 1: each episode of Jeopardy, Ken Jennings asks the contestants questions,

512
00:23:50,480 --> 00:23:53,159
Speaker 1: and you're on for forty episodes, so you answer forty

513
00:23:53,200 --> 00:23:55,560
Speaker 1: different questions about different parts of yourself. And I think

514
00:23:55,640 --> 00:23:57,680
Speaker 1: that that was one of the most amazing things to

515
00:23:57,760 --> 00:24:00,040
Speaker 1: watch unfold. It's just like to be able to it,

516
00:24:00,160 --> 00:24:03,760
Speaker 1: to know all these different facets of you over time.

517
00:24:04,480 --> 00:24:07,840
Speaker 1: And I thought it was interesting that you chose to

518
00:24:07,920 --> 00:24:10,840
Speaker 1: talk about being trans like a handful of episodes in.

519
00:24:11,640 --> 00:24:13,639
Speaker 1: Was that a deliberate choice on on your part or

520
00:24:13,680 --> 00:24:16,840
Speaker 1: on the show's part? It was, you know, it wasn't

521
00:24:17,000 --> 00:24:21,200
Speaker 1: like nobody on Jeopardy reference the fact that I was

522
00:24:21,280 --> 00:24:24,159
Speaker 1: trans at all or mentioned it until I brought it up,

523
00:24:24,240 --> 00:24:26,399
Speaker 1: until I wanted to wear that pin, you know, and

524
00:24:26,480 --> 00:24:28,720
Speaker 1: it was clear that, you know, it was empirely up

525
00:24:28,760 --> 00:24:30,879
Speaker 1: to me that they would never have mentioned it if

526
00:24:30,920 --> 00:24:32,960
Speaker 1: I didn't. Yeah, and wait, sorry, just for people who

527
00:24:33,000 --> 00:24:35,720
Speaker 1: are who are listening and maybe not familiar with the

528
00:24:35,800 --> 00:24:38,639
Speaker 1: pin you wore, would you describe it? Yeah, it was

529
00:24:38,760 --> 00:24:41,080
Speaker 1: just the trans flag, you know, so a standard flag

530
00:24:41,160 --> 00:24:43,919
Speaker 1: pin but with those colors, and actually Kate Freeman, who

531
00:24:44,000 --> 00:24:46,320
Speaker 1: was the first trans woman to win a game of Jeopardy,

532
00:24:46,400 --> 00:24:49,800
Speaker 1: had worn one, and I didn't want to, like I'd

533
00:24:49,840 --> 00:24:52,280
Speaker 1: consider just like wearing that, but then I just didn't

534
00:24:52,320 --> 00:24:55,159
Speaker 1: want to because you know, I've talked about you know,

535
00:24:55,280 --> 00:24:57,840
Speaker 1: I'm trans, but that can be a thing that kind

536
00:24:57,840 --> 00:25:00,480
Speaker 1: of like overshadows everything else. That can become like the

537
00:25:00,720 --> 00:25:03,040
Speaker 1: thing that you are. And it's like, you know, when

538
00:25:03,040 --> 00:25:05,040
Speaker 1: I think about myself, that's not the first thing that

539
00:25:05,119 --> 00:25:07,399
Speaker 1: I think about, you know, I think about that I'm sport,

540
00:25:07,520 --> 00:25:09,240
Speaker 1: that I live in Oakland, that i'm you know, like

541
00:25:09,359 --> 00:25:11,639
Speaker 1: all these other things, and then you know, that's definitely

542
00:25:11,720 --> 00:25:14,960
Speaker 1: in there. Um, So I didn't want to like make

543
00:25:15,000 --> 00:25:17,800
Speaker 1: it about being the trans person. But then once I

544
00:25:17,960 --> 00:25:19,760
Speaker 1: you know, want a couple of games, it was like, well,

545
00:25:20,000 --> 00:25:21,960
Speaker 1: I also don't want it to be a secret. I

546
00:25:21,960 --> 00:25:24,119
Speaker 1: don't want it to be something that I'm like hiding

547
00:25:24,359 --> 00:25:26,960
Speaker 1: or seem ashamed of or anything else like that, because

548
00:25:27,160 --> 00:25:28,920
Speaker 1: you know, I am trans and I'm proud of it

549
00:25:28,960 --> 00:25:31,280
Speaker 1: and I like it. I think it's I feel sorry

550
00:25:31,320 --> 00:25:33,120
Speaker 1: for his people. I think your lives are more boring

551
00:25:33,119 --> 00:25:34,680
Speaker 1: than man and all that sort of thing. So I

552
00:25:34,760 --> 00:25:37,160
Speaker 1: did want to. I I felt like after a few games,

553
00:25:37,160 --> 00:25:38,399
Speaker 1: I was like, Okay, I don't want to leave this

554
00:25:38,480 --> 00:25:41,359
Speaker 1: on acknowledged. Yeah, of course, And I think you did

555
00:25:41,440 --> 00:25:43,639
Speaker 1: it in the week leading up to Thanksgiving, which I know.

556
00:25:43,760 --> 00:25:46,080
Speaker 1: I have friends who said that it was very meaningful

557
00:25:46,119 --> 00:25:48,480
Speaker 1: to them to see that, because it was sort of,

558
00:25:48,840 --> 00:25:50,200
Speaker 1: I don't know, to them. They took it as a

559
00:25:50,240 --> 00:25:52,080
Speaker 1: wink and a not of like, you might be going

560
00:25:52,160 --> 00:25:54,000
Speaker 1: to be with your families, you might be in situations

561
00:25:54,040 --> 00:25:56,119
Speaker 1: where it might be hard to talk about this, and

562
00:25:56,480 --> 00:25:59,720
Speaker 1: and I sort of I see you sort of a thing. Yeah, yeah,

563
00:26:00,240 --> 00:26:02,159
Speaker 1: absolutely what it was. And I mean it's you know,

564
00:26:02,320 --> 00:26:05,240
Speaker 1: like because Thanksgiving, of the various holidays, is the most

565
00:26:05,560 --> 00:26:09,879
Speaker 1: family oriented, and you know, trans people, you know, statistically

566
00:26:09,920 --> 00:26:11,960
Speaker 1: are less likely to have a good relationship with their family,

567
00:26:12,000 --> 00:26:13,840
Speaker 1: and so it can it can be hard. So yeah,

568
00:26:13,960 --> 00:26:16,080
Speaker 1: that was that was definitely part of the thinking. For sure.

569
00:26:16,160 --> 00:26:18,560
Speaker 1: Can I ask about your relationship to your to your family?

570
00:26:19,560 --> 00:26:22,440
Speaker 1: You know, it's good. My mom there was a little

571
00:26:22,480 --> 00:26:25,000
Speaker 1: bit of like hesitation or something like that, but she

572
00:26:25,119 --> 00:26:27,520
Speaker 1: was always accepting of me when I when I came

573
00:26:27,560 --> 00:26:29,760
Speaker 1: out to her, you know, just sort of resistance on

574
00:26:29,920 --> 00:26:32,440
Speaker 1: like changing pronouns and things like that, but like not

575
00:26:32,600 --> 00:26:34,840
Speaker 1: a big deal, and that's all been good for for

576
00:26:35,000 --> 00:26:37,159
Speaker 1: years at this point. And yeah, my my dad had

577
00:26:37,160 --> 00:26:39,960
Speaker 1: passed away before I came out, and you know, I'm

578
00:26:40,000 --> 00:26:42,240
Speaker 1: not you know, to be honest, I'm not sure how

579
00:26:42,320 --> 00:26:44,440
Speaker 1: that would have gone. And so, you know, we'll we'll

580
00:26:44,480 --> 00:26:47,320
Speaker 1: never know. But my brother is great and always has

581
00:26:47,359 --> 00:26:49,680
Speaker 1: been and always will be. So if we come back

582
00:26:49,720 --> 00:26:52,959
Speaker 1: to the game itself and playing Jeopardy, being in this studio,

583
00:26:53,560 --> 00:26:56,639
Speaker 1: these you know, five show tapings in a day, did

584
00:26:56,760 --> 00:27:00,080
Speaker 1: you surprise yourself with how much you knew or with

585
00:27:00,240 --> 00:27:02,320
Speaker 1: like with answers to questions that you're like, where did

586
00:27:02,320 --> 00:27:04,000
Speaker 1: that come from? In my brain? I mean, I guess

587
00:27:04,040 --> 00:27:06,840
Speaker 1: I wouldn't say that. I there was definitely cases whereas

588
00:27:06,880 --> 00:27:09,440
Speaker 1: like I don't know how I knew that, but that

589
00:27:09,600 --> 00:27:12,600
Speaker 1: didn't surprise me. That happens to me, like in my life,

590
00:27:12,760 --> 00:27:14,480
Speaker 1: Like I'm you know all the time, I'm like where

591
00:27:14,520 --> 00:27:17,359
Speaker 1: did I learn that? You know, Like, especially as the

592
00:27:17,359 --> 00:27:19,920
Speaker 1: show was going on. I remember specifically like one time

593
00:27:20,240 --> 00:27:22,119
Speaker 1: our friend Will being like, how did you know that?

594
00:27:22,720 --> 00:27:25,720
Speaker 1: And I'm like I read it somewhere once I don't know,

595
00:27:25,960 --> 00:27:29,920
Speaker 1: like and it's stuck, Like how do I answer that question? Yeah? Yeah, yeah,

596
00:27:30,000 --> 00:27:31,560
Speaker 1: yeah yeah. Well does it do you feel that you

597
00:27:31,600 --> 00:27:35,120
Speaker 1: have a photographic memory or is it something else? It's

598
00:27:35,119 --> 00:27:38,000
Speaker 1: not photographic for sure, God knows. I lose my phone

599
00:27:38,000 --> 00:27:39,560
Speaker 1: all the time and all sorts of things like that.

600
00:27:39,800 --> 00:27:42,520
Speaker 1: Like I'm bad at remembering people's names and faces. But

601
00:27:43,800 --> 00:27:45,800
Speaker 1: you know, there's something about the way my brain is

602
00:27:45,800 --> 00:27:48,960
Speaker 1: set up that like is just well set up I

603
00:27:49,080 --> 00:27:51,360
Speaker 1: think for like kind of like trivia facts. I don't

604
00:27:51,359 --> 00:27:54,320
Speaker 1: know why, but those things stick in my brain pretty well.

605
00:27:54,480 --> 00:27:57,720
Speaker 1: And I think that part of the reason at least

606
00:27:58,080 --> 00:28:00,320
Speaker 1: is that sort of like wanting to dig into things

607
00:28:00,400 --> 00:28:03,280
Speaker 1: that I talked about, Like I'm no good at remembering

608
00:28:03,400 --> 00:28:06,919
Speaker 1: like years or like these sort of like specific things

609
00:28:07,000 --> 00:28:09,760
Speaker 1: that are kind of like arbitrary and don't really matter, um,

610
00:28:10,080 --> 00:28:12,680
Speaker 1: but like things that I can tie into a story

611
00:28:12,800 --> 00:28:15,399
Speaker 1: and like, you know, this is what was going on

612
00:28:15,520 --> 00:28:18,240
Speaker 1: in the world at that time, or this word, you know,

613
00:28:18,440 --> 00:28:21,439
Speaker 1: it has these etymological things that it comes from, these

614
00:28:21,520 --> 00:28:24,399
Speaker 1: languages or whatever else. Like if you learn something and

615
00:28:24,440 --> 00:28:27,000
Speaker 1: then kind of dig into it more, then that thing

616
00:28:27,040 --> 00:28:30,440
Speaker 1: will stay. Yeah, are there any answers or questions that

617
00:28:30,520 --> 00:28:33,639
Speaker 1: still haunt you from your time there. Yeah, I mean

618
00:28:33,680 --> 00:28:36,560
Speaker 1: obviously the last one when I lost it is definitely

619
00:28:37,119 --> 00:28:39,360
Speaker 1: one I'll always think about. And there was another one

620
00:28:39,360 --> 00:28:41,480
Speaker 1: that I think was in that same final episode where

621
00:28:41,640 --> 00:28:44,960
Speaker 1: it was a football question and the answer was Johnny

622
00:28:45,000 --> 00:28:47,360
Speaker 1: Unitas they were showing Johnny unitis on the screen. I

623
00:28:47,440 --> 00:28:49,800
Speaker 1: thought Johnny Unitas, and then I rang in and my

624
00:28:49,920 --> 00:28:52,320
Speaker 1: mouth said Joe Namath and I was just like what

625
00:28:52,680 --> 00:28:55,080
Speaker 1: what what? How did that happen? And I know there

626
00:28:55,080 --> 00:28:56,760
Speaker 1: are a few others. I remember a couple of times

627
00:28:56,840 --> 00:29:00,160
Speaker 1: watching where you know, I'm watching the episode out and

628
00:29:00,200 --> 00:29:02,240
Speaker 1: I'm being like ring in, Why am I not ringing in?

629
00:29:02,360 --> 00:29:06,080
Speaker 1: I know this, you know. But yeah, on that last episode,

630
00:29:06,440 --> 00:29:08,520
Speaker 1: can you tell me a bit about the mixed bag

631
00:29:08,600 --> 00:29:11,360
Speaker 1: of feelings that were probably part of it, because I

632
00:29:11,360 --> 00:29:13,880
Speaker 1: imagine one of them maybe was relief a little bit.

633
00:29:13,960 --> 00:29:18,200
Speaker 1: It sounds grueling, Yeah, yeah, I mean definitely, like the

634
00:29:18,280 --> 00:29:21,320
Speaker 1: first thing was just like loss and sadness, Like it

635
00:29:21,480 --> 00:29:23,840
Speaker 1: was really hit me hard in that like first moment,

636
00:29:24,000 --> 00:29:25,800
Speaker 1: you know, and then my my second thought of that

637
00:29:25,880 --> 00:29:27,960
Speaker 1: after that was like, you know, keep it together, like

638
00:29:28,160 --> 00:29:31,160
Speaker 1: don't you know, I really, like Madam Moodio talked about

639
00:29:31,200 --> 00:29:33,200
Speaker 1: when he lost, he really wanted to make sure that

640
00:29:34,040 --> 00:29:36,520
Speaker 1: the person who won was getting the focus on them,

641
00:29:36,560 --> 00:29:38,560
Speaker 1: and you know that it wasn't about his loss and

642
00:29:38,600 --> 00:29:40,200
Speaker 1: it was about their win because it's such a big

643
00:29:40,240 --> 00:29:42,760
Speaker 1: thing for them, and so I wanted to, like, you know,

644
00:29:42,840 --> 00:29:46,680
Speaker 1: be doing the same. But then shortly after I had

645
00:29:46,720 --> 00:29:48,520
Speaker 1: the thought, I don't have to come up with any

646
00:29:48,560 --> 00:29:51,360
Speaker 1: more anecdotes to tell Ken, which was you know, a

647
00:29:51,440 --> 00:29:54,280
Speaker 1: good feeling, and I don't have to keep leaving you know,

648
00:29:54,400 --> 00:29:56,840
Speaker 1: Genevieve and Meep every week and like I can get

649
00:29:56,920 --> 00:29:59,080
Speaker 1: back to my normal life and all those sorts of things.

650
00:29:59,720 --> 00:30:03,840
Speaker 1: I'm I can't imagine how Ken Jennings did what he did.

651
00:30:04,080 --> 00:30:06,280
Speaker 1: I was still so far away from his streak and

652
00:30:06,360 --> 00:30:08,600
Speaker 1: it just like you know, I always respected it, and

653
00:30:08,680 --> 00:30:11,560
Speaker 1: now it just blows my mind. Yes, seventy plus episodes

654
00:30:11,600 --> 00:30:13,960
Speaker 1: something like that, Yeah, yeah, exact number. Did you have

655
00:30:14,000 --> 00:30:15,440
Speaker 1: a good cry? Though? Did you have did you let

656
00:30:15,480 --> 00:30:18,800
Speaker 1: yourself cry? At some point? So I I was walked

657
00:30:18,840 --> 00:30:21,040
Speaker 1: back to where the other contestants were hanging out in

658
00:30:21,080 --> 00:30:25,200
Speaker 1: a in a parking garage, and in a parking garage, yeah,

659
00:30:25,720 --> 00:30:28,120
Speaker 1: for for social distancing, that that was the place they

660
00:30:28,120 --> 00:30:31,000
Speaker 1: could find, and so one thing was on the way over.

661
00:30:31,160 --> 00:30:33,200
Speaker 1: You know, I was clearly struggling a bit, and the

662
00:30:33,280 --> 00:30:35,560
Speaker 1: crew member who was walking me said, it's it's like

663
00:30:35,680 --> 00:30:38,480
Speaker 1: the end of a show, like a play. You know,

664
00:30:38,560 --> 00:30:41,640
Speaker 1: We've all been working together, collaborating to put this thing out,

665
00:30:42,080 --> 00:30:47,240
Speaker 1: and it's just suddenly like gone. And I really appreciated that.

666
00:30:47,360 --> 00:30:49,640
Speaker 1: I realized that was the exact feeling I was having,

667
00:30:49,800 --> 00:30:51,640
Speaker 1: and that also comforted me in a bit, because, like,

668
00:30:51,920 --> 00:30:53,680
Speaker 1: you know, that's not when you think about when you

669
00:30:53,760 --> 00:30:55,960
Speaker 1: go remember a play, you remember the run of it.

670
00:30:56,040 --> 00:30:58,080
Speaker 1: You don't remember that sadness at the end. But so

671
00:30:58,240 --> 00:31:00,120
Speaker 1: I did like then, and I sort of like you know,

672
00:31:00,280 --> 00:31:03,000
Speaker 1: said hi, you know, contestants, and did a little small

673
00:31:03,040 --> 00:31:04,440
Speaker 1: talk like that, and I was like, hey, I gotta

674
00:31:04,440 --> 00:31:05,680
Speaker 1: go to the bathroom. And then I went in the

675
00:31:05,720 --> 00:31:08,000
Speaker 1: bathroom and I cried for a couple of minutes and

676
00:31:08,080 --> 00:31:10,520
Speaker 1: I let that go, you know, and then pulled myself

677
00:31:10,680 --> 00:31:12,320
Speaker 1: up together and came back out. But yes, I did.

678
00:31:12,480 --> 00:31:15,120
Speaker 1: I knew I needed to, Oh for sure. I can't

679
00:31:15,160 --> 00:31:17,880
Speaker 1: imagine the release of that. I also read somewhere that

680
00:31:17,920 --> 00:31:20,000
Speaker 1: you gave thank you notes to the crew. Is that true?

681
00:31:21,080 --> 00:31:28,320
Speaker 1: It is? I'm yeah, no, I just I mean, first

682
00:31:28,360 --> 00:31:30,600
Speaker 1: of all, they're all great people, Like you know, I

683
00:31:30,720 --> 00:31:33,320
Speaker 1: wasn't expecting them not to be fine people, but I

684
00:31:33,400 --> 00:31:36,800
Speaker 1: was really impressed by basically everyone there. And then it was,

685
00:31:37,000 --> 00:31:39,360
Speaker 1: you know, it was such an intense experience and they

686
00:31:39,400 --> 00:31:41,120
Speaker 1: were the only ones that were there with me through it,

687
00:31:41,400 --> 00:31:44,960
Speaker 1: and like, there were definitely several occasions like that last

688
00:31:45,040 --> 00:31:47,120
Speaker 1: one where they just said just the right thing at

689
00:31:47,160 --> 00:31:49,600
Speaker 1: just the right time. That was really what I needed

690
00:31:49,640 --> 00:31:52,360
Speaker 1: to hear. And I just felt like I had to

691
00:31:52,480 --> 00:31:54,760
Speaker 1: like let them know how how much I appreciated them.

692
00:31:57,200 --> 00:32:00,240
Speaker 1: That's Amy Schneider. If you're enjoying this conversation, and be

693
00:32:00,360 --> 00:32:02,400
Speaker 1: sure to subscribe to Here's the Thing on the I

694
00:32:02,520 --> 00:32:06,480
Speaker 1: Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

695
00:32:07,080 --> 00:32:10,240
Speaker 1: When we come back, Amy Schneider shares her perspective on

696
00:32:10,440 --> 00:32:14,000
Speaker 1: the rash of anti trans legislation on the rise across

697
00:32:14,080 --> 00:32:29,680
Speaker 1: the country. I'm Dalia Schlanger and this is Here's the Thing.

698
00:32:30,240 --> 00:32:34,479
Speaker 1: Jeopardy champion Amy Schneider's life has changed dramatically since her

699
00:32:34,520 --> 00:32:38,280
Speaker 1: epic run on the show. Her social media following has exploded.

700
00:32:38,480 --> 00:32:41,080
Speaker 1: She was honored with a special recognition at this year's

701
00:32:41,080 --> 00:32:44,280
Speaker 1: GLAD Media Awards. She's even had a day named after

702
00:32:44,360 --> 00:32:47,320
Speaker 1: her in Oakland, California. I wanted to know about the

703
00:32:47,480 --> 00:32:50,920
Speaker 1: first moment when Schneider realized that she had become a

704
00:32:51,040 --> 00:32:54,400
Speaker 1: public figure. I think maybe the first one. I was

705
00:32:54,440 --> 00:32:57,600
Speaker 1: surprised by how fast like things took off, and like,

706
00:32:57,960 --> 00:32:59,800
Speaker 1: you know, how many Twitter followers? Why is getting how

707
00:32:59,800 --> 00:33:02,280
Speaker 1: many like interview request? I was getting that sort of thing.

708
00:33:02,920 --> 00:33:05,600
Speaker 1: But I had known something like that was going to happen,

709
00:33:05,640 --> 00:33:07,560
Speaker 1: even if I didn't know the degree. But I think,

710
00:33:07,640 --> 00:33:09,240
Speaker 1: you know, there are two things that really kind of

711
00:33:09,280 --> 00:33:11,800
Speaker 1: made me realize, like, this isn't just a thing that's happening.

712
00:33:11,920 --> 00:33:14,360
Speaker 1: This is a new phase of my life. I think

713
00:33:14,400 --> 00:33:17,600
Speaker 1: the first one was I got robbed at the beginning

714
00:33:17,640 --> 00:33:20,160
Speaker 1: of the year. UM. Didn't have anything to do with Jeopardy.

715
00:33:20,200 --> 00:33:22,200
Speaker 1: It's just you know, I was I had bad luck

716
00:33:22,240 --> 00:33:24,640
Speaker 1: on that and you know whatever, UM and I mentioned

717
00:33:24,680 --> 00:33:27,480
Speaker 1: it on Twitter and then it was a news story

718
00:33:27,800 --> 00:33:30,120
Speaker 1: and like people in my life found out about it

719
00:33:30,160 --> 00:33:32,000
Speaker 1: because they had seen it in like their news feed

720
00:33:32,080 --> 00:33:33,800
Speaker 1: and things like that, And that was really a moment

721
00:33:33,880 --> 00:33:36,600
Speaker 1: of being like, okay, like I have a public life

722
00:33:36,640 --> 00:33:38,719
Speaker 1: now and a and a personal life, and it's it's

723
00:33:38,800 --> 00:33:41,800
Speaker 1: up to me to monitor where the boundaries between those are.

724
00:33:41,880 --> 00:33:43,680
Speaker 1: And that's just going to be the case for who

725
00:33:43,760 --> 00:33:45,959
Speaker 1: knows how long. So that was one moment, and then

726
00:33:46,000 --> 00:33:48,640
Speaker 1: the other one was like, once my episode stopped airing,

727
00:33:49,240 --> 00:33:51,200
Speaker 1: like I played, I put off a lot of things

728
00:33:51,280 --> 00:33:54,560
Speaker 1: on the assumption that once my episode stopped airing, things

729
00:33:54,600 --> 00:33:57,280
Speaker 1: would calm down and to have more free time. And

730
00:33:57,400 --> 00:33:59,640
Speaker 1: then a week or two in I was like, Wow,

731
00:33:59,720 --> 00:34:03,000
Speaker 1: that not happen at all, and this is not going

732
00:34:03,120 --> 00:34:06,840
Speaker 1: to stop, and yeah, I had to like just recalibrate

733
00:34:06,960 --> 00:34:09,759
Speaker 1: my whole plans for you know, the next few months. Yeah,

734
00:34:09,920 --> 00:34:11,600
Speaker 1: well I think kind of the rest of your life.

735
00:34:11,640 --> 00:34:13,920
Speaker 1: Like you quit your job, Yeah, yeah, I did. Was

736
00:34:14,040 --> 00:34:18,319
Speaker 1: that our decision to make? No? Um, you know, I'd

737
00:34:18,440 --> 00:34:22,080
Speaker 1: been struggling and with dissatisfaction of my career for a while.

738
00:34:22,160 --> 00:34:24,240
Speaker 1: I mean, I think, like a lot of people in COVID,

739
00:34:24,320 --> 00:34:25,839
Speaker 1: it was just like is this really what I want

740
00:34:25,840 --> 00:34:28,320
Speaker 1: to be doing with my life? And you know, just

741
00:34:28,440 --> 00:34:31,440
Speaker 1: not feeling the fulfillment that I used to have, so

742
00:34:32,200 --> 00:34:34,680
Speaker 1: you know, like this coming along, it was like I

743
00:34:34,840 --> 00:34:36,759
Speaker 1: was thinking about doing it anyway, and having you know,

744
00:34:36,840 --> 00:34:40,120
Speaker 1: a million dollars to cushion the financial blow like made

745
00:34:40,120 --> 00:34:42,360
Speaker 1: it a lot easier. I had thought that I was

746
00:34:42,400 --> 00:34:44,360
Speaker 1: going to hang in there for a few more months,

747
00:34:44,600 --> 00:34:47,000
Speaker 1: like get some stock options to fast and some other

748
00:34:47,040 --> 00:34:49,160
Speaker 1: stuff like that, you know, see if things were really

749
00:34:49,200 --> 00:34:52,359
Speaker 1: going to be sustainable. But then it quickly became clear

750
00:34:52,440 --> 00:34:55,000
Speaker 1: that they were, and like it was just like, this

751
00:34:55,160 --> 00:34:58,440
Speaker 1: is foolish. I'm actually not doing any work. Like I

752
00:34:58,560 --> 00:35:01,360
Speaker 1: had this realization I needed to write this like RFC

753
00:35:01,440 --> 00:35:03,840
Speaker 1: about spec automation you know, whatever that means. And I

754
00:35:03,960 --> 00:35:05,680
Speaker 1: was like, I'm not going to do that. I just

755
00:35:05,760 --> 00:35:09,360
Speaker 1: can't imagine myself doing that anymore. That's that's so uninteresting

756
00:35:09,400 --> 00:35:11,320
Speaker 1: to me. And so yeah, I said, of meeting with

757
00:35:11,400 --> 00:35:14,239
Speaker 1: my manager, and that was it. What's the dream now?

758
00:35:14,880 --> 00:35:17,240
Speaker 1: You know a lot of people have been like suggesting

759
00:35:17,280 --> 00:35:18,920
Speaker 1: a lot of things to me, but I think what

760
00:35:19,000 --> 00:35:20,840
Speaker 1: I've kind of settled on is that I think my

761
00:35:20,920 --> 00:35:24,359
Speaker 1: dream would be if somebody was to be describing Amy

762
00:35:24,400 --> 00:35:26,960
Speaker 1: Schneider in a few years, that they would say she's

763
00:35:27,040 --> 00:35:29,840
Speaker 1: a writer, and then maybe adding other things after that,

764
00:35:30,120 --> 00:35:33,279
Speaker 1: maybe like you know, podcasting or like hosting a TV

765
00:35:33,440 --> 00:35:35,759
Speaker 1: show or things like that. But I think that, like,

766
00:35:37,000 --> 00:35:39,000
Speaker 1: you know, I've written some essays that have been online.

767
00:35:39,239 --> 00:35:41,440
Speaker 1: I've put together a book proposal, and I'm going to

768
00:35:41,480 --> 00:35:43,359
Speaker 1: be trying to write a book. And I've really found

769
00:35:43,400 --> 00:35:46,239
Speaker 1: that to be the most satisfying to do or even

770
00:35:46,360 --> 00:35:48,200
Speaker 1: think about, of all the things that have come along.

771
00:35:48,880 --> 00:35:51,239
Speaker 1: It's amazing. I want to ask you about your life

772
00:35:51,400 --> 00:35:53,319
Speaker 1: on online a little bit. I know your in person

773
00:35:53,400 --> 00:35:55,799
Speaker 1: life has changed so much, but your life online as well.

774
00:35:55,960 --> 00:35:58,920
Speaker 1: And I understand that Jeopardy like makes a recommendation to

775
00:35:59,000 --> 00:36:02,879
Speaker 1: people to shut down their personal social media accounts before

776
00:36:02,880 --> 00:36:04,959
Speaker 1: they're on the show. Can you tell me a little

777
00:36:05,000 --> 00:36:07,160
Speaker 1: bit about that aspect of things and what it's been

778
00:36:07,239 --> 00:36:10,200
Speaker 1: like for you. Yeah, I mean it's been interesting. I

779
00:36:10,280 --> 00:36:13,480
Speaker 1: will say that before the episode started airing, Jeopardy put

780
00:36:13,560 --> 00:36:16,200
Speaker 1: me in contact with Glad, who gave me, you know,

781
00:36:16,239 --> 00:36:19,360
Speaker 1: a fair amount of like advice and like preparation and

782
00:36:19,400 --> 00:36:22,239
Speaker 1: training for being a queer person in the public eye,

783
00:36:22,280 --> 00:36:24,680
Speaker 1: which was super helpful. You know, it's been tough. Like

784
00:36:24,800 --> 00:36:27,680
Speaker 1: I I used to be on Twitter a fair amount.

785
00:36:27,719 --> 00:36:29,440
Speaker 1: I used to post a fair amount to my you know,

786
00:36:29,760 --> 00:36:32,440
Speaker 1: three followers or whatever. And then I'd already kind of

787
00:36:32,560 --> 00:36:34,680
Speaker 1: like stopped that during the pandemic because I just didn't

788
00:36:34,680 --> 00:36:36,920
Speaker 1: feel like I had anything to say about, you know, COVID.

789
00:36:37,520 --> 00:36:39,640
Speaker 1: It was always just so like off the cuff too,

790
00:36:39,920 --> 00:36:41,440
Speaker 1: Like I would think of like a funny thing and

791
00:36:41,560 --> 00:36:44,400
Speaker 1: like you know, spend twenty minutes like crafting it and

792
00:36:44,520 --> 00:36:46,799
Speaker 1: like debating over commas and stuff, and then then throw

793
00:36:46,840 --> 00:36:49,759
Speaker 1: it out there. But now, you know, I can't just

794
00:36:49,920 --> 00:36:51,919
Speaker 1: like you know, take an edible and think of something

795
00:36:51,960 --> 00:36:54,640
Speaker 1: funny and post it because like you know, it's going

796
00:36:54,719 --> 00:36:56,120
Speaker 1: to be in the news, and I had need to

797
00:36:56,200 --> 00:36:58,439
Speaker 1: be you know, more thoughtful about it, and so trying

798
00:36:58,440 --> 00:37:00,800
Speaker 1: to find that balance of where's the like still like

799
00:37:01,440 --> 00:37:05,359
Speaker 1: you know, casual and me and natural, while also being

800
00:37:05,560 --> 00:37:08,240
Speaker 1: you know, thoughtful enough to not you know, do anything foolish,

801
00:37:08,640 --> 00:37:11,879
Speaker 1: oh for sure. And also I mean, like you said

802
00:37:11,960 --> 00:37:14,000
Speaker 1: that Jeopardy put you in touch with Glad to talk

803
00:37:14,000 --> 00:37:15,960
Speaker 1: about being a queer person in the public eye. Do

804
00:37:16,040 --> 00:37:18,719
Speaker 1: you feel like like having to deal with that side

805
00:37:18,719 --> 00:37:23,480
Speaker 1: of things has politicized you more in your transness maybe

806
00:37:23,560 --> 00:37:27,279
Speaker 1: then you felt as a private person. I actually I

807
00:37:27,400 --> 00:37:30,320
Speaker 1: think that I've been very politicized as a trans person.

808
00:37:30,600 --> 00:37:35,040
Speaker 1: That's something that I've been you know, intentionally de emphasizing

809
00:37:35,520 --> 00:37:38,760
Speaker 1: in my social media and in my public presence because

810
00:37:38,800 --> 00:37:40,359
Speaker 1: I don't you know, I don't want my Twitter feed

811
00:37:40,400 --> 00:37:42,279
Speaker 1: to be a place where people are arguing all the time,

812
00:37:42,520 --> 00:37:46,239
Speaker 1: and that's not, you know, my goal. But yeah, it's

813
00:37:46,280 --> 00:37:48,920
Speaker 1: been interesting. It's certainly like hardened me and things that

814
00:37:49,000 --> 00:37:51,640
Speaker 1: I already felt. And I guess it's made me think

815
00:37:51,800 --> 00:37:56,040
Speaker 1: through more like my politics and my beliefs and things

816
00:37:56,160 --> 00:37:58,359
Speaker 1: like that. It's really you know, because if I am

817
00:37:58,480 --> 00:38:00,360
Speaker 1: going to address it, like I say, I need to

818
00:38:00,400 --> 00:38:01,960
Speaker 1: do it now in a thoughtful way, and I need

819
00:38:02,000 --> 00:38:06,880
Speaker 1: to really think about what will actually you know, persuade

820
00:38:06,920 --> 00:38:08,879
Speaker 1: people and not just what will make me feel good.

821
00:38:09,160 --> 00:38:10,920
Speaker 1: And so I've been That's something I've been doing a

822
00:38:10,960 --> 00:38:13,040
Speaker 1: lot of thinking about, and it's something I do want

823
00:38:13,080 --> 00:38:15,960
Speaker 1: to be, you know, I don't want to be an activist,

824
00:38:16,200 --> 00:38:17,920
Speaker 1: you know, per se or things like that, but I

825
00:38:18,000 --> 00:38:21,040
Speaker 1: do want to start like using that platform a bit

826
00:38:21,160 --> 00:38:25,120
Speaker 1: more to advance the humanity of people like me. Do

827
00:38:25,239 --> 00:38:29,279
Speaker 1: you have any advice for people listening about finding their

828
00:38:29,320 --> 00:38:32,759
Speaker 1: own authenticity or about finding harmony within parts of themselves

829
00:38:33,000 --> 00:38:34,920
Speaker 1: so that they can do their own form of what

830
00:38:35,040 --> 00:38:38,160
Speaker 1: you've done. Yeah, I mean it's tough. It took me

831
00:38:38,400 --> 00:38:41,080
Speaker 1: thirty some years, you know, it's it's it's certainly a

832
00:38:41,160 --> 00:38:43,399
Speaker 1: difficult thing to do. But I think what I'd say

833
00:38:43,440 --> 00:38:46,680
Speaker 1: that I've what I've learned from transitioning is that as

834
00:38:46,760 --> 00:38:49,360
Speaker 1: you think about there's some part of yourself that you

835
00:38:49,560 --> 00:38:52,080
Speaker 1: haven't been expressing, some part of yourself that you've been

836
00:38:52,160 --> 00:38:55,960
Speaker 1: kind of ashamed of or just you know, wanting to conceal,

837
00:38:56,080 --> 00:39:00,759
Speaker 1: not wanting to highlight. You are exaggerating your fears, and

838
00:39:00,920 --> 00:39:04,440
Speaker 1: you're underestimating the benefits. Like, I'm confident of that it

839
00:39:04,600 --> 00:39:06,279
Speaker 1: is not going to be as bad as you think.

840
00:39:06,360 --> 00:39:08,160
Speaker 1: The negative things won't be as bad as you think

841
00:39:08,200 --> 00:39:10,960
Speaker 1: they are, and the positives there's going to be positives

842
00:39:11,000 --> 00:39:13,480
Speaker 1: to it that you were not even thinking of or expecting.

843
00:39:13,760 --> 00:39:17,439
Speaker 1: Like I I really think that's true. That's so beautifully sad.

844
00:39:18,200 --> 00:39:20,640
Speaker 1: Do you ever think about what your life might have

845
00:39:20,680 --> 00:39:22,480
Speaker 1: been like if you hadn't found the courage to make

846
00:39:22,560 --> 00:39:25,800
Speaker 1: that transition, to take that leap. Yeah, I mean, you know,

847
00:39:26,120 --> 00:39:28,320
Speaker 1: I lived it for a long time, and it was

848
00:39:28,840 --> 00:39:31,640
Speaker 1: miserable in a way that I didn't know because that

849
00:39:31,719 --> 00:39:35,080
Speaker 1: had always been with me, and so you know, you

850
00:39:35,320 --> 00:39:37,520
Speaker 1: talk about courage and and there's a truth to that.

851
00:39:38,080 --> 00:39:43,040
Speaker 1: But once I really like started to experience seeing myself

852
00:39:43,080 --> 00:39:46,319
Speaker 1: as a woman, letting you know a few people close

853
00:39:46,400 --> 00:39:48,279
Speaker 1: to me in my life see me that way, you know,

854
00:39:48,440 --> 00:39:51,279
Speaker 1: acting that way with other people, it felt like there

855
00:39:51,360 --> 00:39:53,680
Speaker 1: was no choice. It didn't feel like something that I

856
00:39:53,800 --> 00:39:56,040
Speaker 1: was bravely deciding to do. It felt like something that

857
00:39:56,200 --> 00:39:58,800
Speaker 1: was like happening to me, Like coming out was happening

858
00:39:58,880 --> 00:40:01,280
Speaker 1: to me because I could not stay in the closet

859
00:40:01,320 --> 00:40:04,759
Speaker 1: any longer. So yeah, that was my experience with it.

860
00:40:05,400 --> 00:40:07,719
Speaker 1: So this spring, you went to the White House for

861
00:40:07,960 --> 00:40:11,600
Speaker 1: Transgender Day of Visibility. Unbelievable. How did it feel to

862
00:40:11,680 --> 00:40:14,680
Speaker 1: be there? Well, it's definitely one of the many, you know,

863
00:40:14,800 --> 00:40:17,520
Speaker 1: mind blowing experiences I've had this year. A sort of

864
00:40:17,600 --> 00:40:20,440
Speaker 1: surreal feeling, you know, just there. It is just like

865
00:40:20,520 --> 00:40:22,600
Speaker 1: in the movies, you know, you're here at the White House.

866
00:40:23,360 --> 00:40:26,279
Speaker 1: And it was also just really drove home for me

867
00:40:26,400 --> 00:40:28,720
Speaker 1: how much things have changed in this country for trans

868
00:40:28,800 --> 00:40:30,800
Speaker 1: people that you know, I would be invited by the

869
00:40:30,840 --> 00:40:33,400
Speaker 1: White House and they would think it was good politics

870
00:40:33,480 --> 00:40:35,960
Speaker 1: to do, so, you know, that was really neat So

871
00:40:36,120 --> 00:40:38,440
Speaker 1: On the one hand, I mean, that's such a powerful

872
00:40:38,520 --> 00:40:41,120
Speaker 1: thing to have a transferson be invited to the White

873
00:40:41,200 --> 00:40:43,160
Speaker 1: House to mark this day and be so visible on

874
00:40:43,200 --> 00:40:45,959
Speaker 1: Transgender Day of Visibility. And yet this year we've also

875
00:40:46,080 --> 00:40:48,720
Speaker 1: heard so much noise in the media, so much anti

876
00:40:48,800 --> 00:40:51,359
Speaker 1: trans legislation being brought forward, I think, more than any

877
00:40:51,440 --> 00:40:54,880
Speaker 1: other year in history in two And I want to

878
00:40:54,920 --> 00:40:58,239
Speaker 1: know what you think, Like, what's your perspective on where

879
00:40:58,280 --> 00:41:01,320
Speaker 1: we're at right now? Those are two very a posing states.

880
00:41:01,400 --> 00:41:04,560
Speaker 1: I think, yeah, I mean I think that fundamentally, I'm

881
00:41:04,600 --> 00:41:07,400
Speaker 1: I'm really actually quite optimistic. And I don't want to

882
00:41:08,000 --> 00:41:11,640
Speaker 1: undersell the sort of danger that trans people, in trans

883
00:41:11,760 --> 00:41:14,080
Speaker 1: children in particular, are in right now. You know, the

884
00:41:14,960 --> 00:41:18,480
Speaker 1: being denied gender affirming care is is will will some

885
00:41:18,640 --> 00:41:20,560
Speaker 1: of them will die from that. It is life saving

886
00:41:20,600 --> 00:41:23,000
Speaker 1: medical care for many people. And I know that that

887
00:41:23,160 --> 00:41:25,680
Speaker 1: may be hard to understand if you, you know, are

888
00:41:25,760 --> 00:41:28,479
Speaker 1: not trans yourself, but I can promise you that it's true.

889
00:41:29,040 --> 00:41:30,799
Speaker 1: But at the same time, I was talking with their

890
00:41:30,800 --> 00:41:33,600
Speaker 1: friend the other day and they were saying how awful

891
00:41:33,640 --> 00:41:35,400
Speaker 1: they feel for the kids that are going to be,

892
00:41:35,640 --> 00:41:38,640
Speaker 1: you know, forced to stop their transition. And I was like, well, remember,

893
00:41:39,120 --> 00:41:40,840
Speaker 1: it wasn't that long ago. There was no need to

894
00:41:40,920 --> 00:41:42,920
Speaker 1: pass a law for that, because no kid would have

895
00:41:43,000 --> 00:41:45,680
Speaker 1: been given that medical care in the first place. So

896
00:41:45,800 --> 00:41:49,040
Speaker 1: when you think about it that way, it's really remarkable

897
00:41:49,120 --> 00:41:51,400
Speaker 1: how far we've come, you know, not just over the

898
00:41:51,480 --> 00:41:53,640
Speaker 1: course of my lifetime, but just in the last five

899
00:41:53,760 --> 00:41:56,640
Speaker 1: ten years. And so this movement right now is a

900
00:41:56,719 --> 00:41:59,840
Speaker 1: backlash against the progress that we've made, and it's a

901
00:42:00,000 --> 00:42:02,000
Speaker 1: backlash that I think, quite frankly, has come too late.

902
00:42:02,560 --> 00:42:05,280
Speaker 1: Too many people have already, you know, met trans people,

903
00:42:05,719 --> 00:42:10,200
Speaker 1: come to understand trans people and understand that we have

904
00:42:10,360 --> 00:42:12,840
Speaker 1: a right to live our lives in peace, and you know,

905
00:42:12,920 --> 00:42:15,719
Speaker 1: those people aren't going to change their minds. So it's

906
00:42:15,719 --> 00:42:18,080
Speaker 1: definitely scary right now, and people are going to get hurt.

907
00:42:18,640 --> 00:42:22,480
Speaker 1: But I think that, you know, assuming that we continue

908
00:42:22,520 --> 00:42:25,200
Speaker 1: to have a functioning democracy, you know, trans people are

909
00:42:25,239 --> 00:42:28,239
Speaker 1: going to be okay in this country. That's a really

910
00:42:28,360 --> 00:42:31,360
Speaker 1: valuable perspective to hear. I'm curious about how it affects

911
00:42:31,400 --> 00:42:34,160
Speaker 1: you day to day to have so much discourse about

912
00:42:34,160 --> 00:42:35,880
Speaker 1: trans rights in in the media. Are you able to

913
00:42:35,960 --> 00:42:39,680
Speaker 1: compartmentalize or is it exhausting and disturbing a lot of

914
00:42:39,719 --> 00:42:42,359
Speaker 1: the time, you know, I I mean I am able

915
00:42:42,400 --> 00:42:46,279
Speaker 1: to compartmentalize. It's not like there wasn't always terrible news

916
00:42:46,360 --> 00:42:49,080
Speaker 1: around if you were you know, kind of looking forward

917
00:42:49,280 --> 00:42:51,759
Speaker 1: or just you know, on trans twitter as I was,

918
00:42:52,040 --> 00:42:55,560
Speaker 1: you know, so kind of the flood of scary things

919
00:42:55,640 --> 00:42:58,600
Speaker 1: has has been out there, you know, since I've come out,

920
00:42:59,480 --> 00:43:02,399
Speaker 1: So yeah, you know, it's just something you just sort

921
00:43:02,440 --> 00:43:04,799
Speaker 1: of learned that, like, yeah, there's always a bad thing

922
00:43:04,880 --> 00:43:07,239
Speaker 1: out there, but there's good stuff out there too, and

923
00:43:07,360 --> 00:43:09,960
Speaker 1: it's not scary, so it doesn't you know, spread as

924
00:43:10,040 --> 00:43:13,120
Speaker 1: much and it doesn't make headlines. But just all these

925
00:43:13,200 --> 00:43:16,479
Speaker 1: little things like me being on Jeopardy, like trans people,

926
00:43:16,560 --> 00:43:19,400
Speaker 1: you know, advancing in the military were always like moving

927
00:43:19,520 --> 00:43:22,360
Speaker 1: forward and breaking new ground. Um, and we should be

928
00:43:22,520 --> 00:43:24,080
Speaker 1: just as aware of that as we are about the

929
00:43:24,120 --> 00:43:27,640
Speaker 1: scary things. Mm hmm. Those scary things are getting so

930
00:43:27,760 --> 00:43:29,839
Speaker 1: much attention. These bills are being talked about so much,

931
00:43:29,880 --> 00:43:32,360
Speaker 1: and I'm wondering if you think that they're truly reflective

932
00:43:32,400 --> 00:43:35,600
Speaker 1: of the way that people feel or transphobia on a

933
00:43:35,719 --> 00:43:37,360
Speaker 1: day to day, person to person level, or if this

934
00:43:37,480 --> 00:43:39,480
Speaker 1: is a lot of political theater because people are so

935
00:43:39,600 --> 00:43:43,719
Speaker 1: polarized around trans rights. I mean, I think, you know,

936
00:43:43,880 --> 00:43:46,879
Speaker 1: certainly political theater to a fair extent, but I think

937
00:43:46,920 --> 00:43:49,560
Speaker 1: that you know, what I've learned being out in public

938
00:43:49,600 --> 00:43:52,800
Speaker 1: and hearing so many stories of especially older people, seeing

939
00:43:52,880 --> 00:43:55,840
Speaker 1: me on TV and kind of having that sort of

940
00:43:56,640 --> 00:43:59,640
Speaker 1: the light dawns on them about trans people, and I

941
00:43:59,760 --> 00:44:02,840
Speaker 1: just that so many people, you know, anybody who's like

942
00:44:03,040 --> 00:44:07,000
Speaker 1: my age or older, grew up with the you know,

943
00:44:07,160 --> 00:44:11,680
Speaker 1: most horrific demonizing stereotypes of trans people, you know from

944
00:44:11,719 --> 00:44:15,000
Speaker 1: like Silence of the Lambs on and you know, if

945
00:44:15,040 --> 00:44:17,320
Speaker 1: you've never had a reason to question that, you just

946
00:44:17,360 --> 00:44:20,080
Speaker 1: sort of grew up believing what you believed. And so

947
00:44:20,880 --> 00:44:23,400
Speaker 1: I think it's for so many people, it's not about

948
00:44:24,000 --> 00:44:27,000
Speaker 1: I hate so much. It's just about discomfort and having

949
00:44:27,040 --> 00:44:29,919
Speaker 1: to question something you thought you knew. But I find

950
00:44:29,960 --> 00:44:32,480
Speaker 1: that that's pretty brittle, and once it breaks, people can

951
00:44:32,680 --> 00:44:35,840
Speaker 1: pretty quickly understand that, yeah, those were just wrong what

952
00:44:35,920 --> 00:44:38,640
Speaker 1: they grew up with, and trans people are fine. Amy.

953
00:44:38,719 --> 00:44:41,239
Speaker 1: I hate asking somebody who has a personal stake in

954
00:44:41,280 --> 00:44:43,520
Speaker 1: an issue like this what other people can do to help,

955
00:44:43,719 --> 00:44:46,520
Speaker 1: but I am curious to know from your perspective, are

956
00:44:46,640 --> 00:44:49,799
Speaker 1: there things that folks can do to combat this. Yeah,

957
00:44:49,880 --> 00:44:51,840
Speaker 1: I mean, I think you know, just the most important

958
00:44:51,920 --> 00:44:55,480
Speaker 1: thing is too in your daily life, don't let it

959
00:44:55,600 --> 00:44:59,800
Speaker 1: go unanswered. If you hear people saying hateful things and

960
00:45:00,040 --> 00:45:02,800
Speaker 1: and be visible as somebody that is an ally of

961
00:45:02,880 --> 00:45:05,799
Speaker 1: trans people and that that believes in their rights, it's

962
00:45:05,880 --> 00:45:08,560
Speaker 1: not necessarily going to change the minds of the people

963
00:45:08,640 --> 00:45:11,799
Speaker 1: that you're most frustrated with. But again, it's that thing

964
00:45:11,920 --> 00:45:14,600
Speaker 1: where people grew up with the idea that everybody shared

965
00:45:14,960 --> 00:45:18,759
Speaker 1: hateful beliefs about trans people, and so showing the people

966
00:45:18,840 --> 00:45:21,480
Speaker 1: around you that people they know, people that are in

967
00:45:21,560 --> 00:45:24,279
Speaker 1: their community, their workplace, their church, whatever it may be,

968
00:45:25,160 --> 00:45:28,120
Speaker 1: don't share those hateful beliefs. Maybe that you know it'll

969
00:45:28,160 --> 00:45:30,080
Speaker 1: make a few of them start to wonder and start

970
00:45:30,120 --> 00:45:33,319
Speaker 1: the question and start to slowly change the minds. Yeah,

971
00:45:33,560 --> 00:45:35,440
Speaker 1: I know when you accepted your glad a word, the

972
00:45:35,520 --> 00:45:37,040
Speaker 1: sense that I got from what you said was that

973
00:45:37,160 --> 00:45:40,040
Speaker 1: your work in advocacy was the thing that you're most

974
00:45:40,120 --> 00:45:42,759
Speaker 1: proud of from your Jeopardy rent or not advocacy, but

975
00:45:42,840 --> 00:45:45,880
Speaker 1: being a visible trans person and the way that that

976
00:45:46,000 --> 00:45:50,480
Speaker 1: can change people's views. Yeah, you know, when I take

977
00:45:50,560 --> 00:45:51,920
Speaker 1: my episodes and I knew it was going to be

978
00:45:52,040 --> 00:45:54,200
Speaker 1: kind of a big deal and that my my trans

979
00:45:54,920 --> 00:45:57,840
Speaker 1: nous was going to be a part of that. What

980
00:45:58,000 --> 00:46:01,080
Speaker 1: I thought was going to happen was just at you know,

981
00:46:01,320 --> 00:46:04,160
Speaker 1: it would become a talking point and people would just

982
00:46:04,440 --> 00:46:07,000
Speaker 1: dig into their own trench positions and it wouldn't really

983
00:46:07,320 --> 00:46:09,200
Speaker 1: have much of an effect. It would just be one

984
00:46:09,280 --> 00:46:12,440
Speaker 1: more ground that people were fighting on, and that turned

985
00:46:12,440 --> 00:46:17,359
Speaker 1: out not to be true. So that has been such

986
00:46:17,440 --> 00:46:20,200
Speaker 1: a good feeling just to like, I've heard from so

987
00:46:20,360 --> 00:46:23,520
Speaker 1: many trans people about the immediate difference that it made

988
00:46:23,520 --> 00:46:26,560
Speaker 1: in their life, the specific ways that it was helpful

989
00:46:26,600 --> 00:46:31,440
Speaker 1: to them, and you know, have such sympathy and connection

990
00:46:31,560 --> 00:46:33,320
Speaker 1: for all the all the trans people in this country,

991
00:46:33,360 --> 00:46:36,000
Speaker 1: and I want nothing but the best and happiness for

992
00:46:36,040 --> 00:46:37,799
Speaker 1: all of them. And the fact that I was able

993
00:46:37,880 --> 00:46:41,080
Speaker 1: to actually advance that cause was and remains just an

994
00:46:41,080 --> 00:46:44,839
Speaker 1: incredible feeling. Yeah, and for young people too. I don't

995
00:46:44,840 --> 00:46:46,080
Speaker 1: want to harp too much on this, but I just

996
00:46:46,120 --> 00:46:48,120
Speaker 1: want to bring up one more point that I found

997
00:46:48,280 --> 00:46:51,360
Speaker 1: really fascinating in the last six months or so, Like

998
00:46:51,480 --> 00:46:55,120
Speaker 1: in the spring, the governor of Utah, Governor Cox, vetoed

999
00:46:55,200 --> 00:46:58,160
Speaker 1: a bill that was trying to ban trans students from

1000
00:46:58,200 --> 00:47:00,720
Speaker 1: participating in sports that are consistent with their gender identity,

1001
00:47:00,920 --> 00:47:04,520
Speaker 1: and his his video is overridden, but when he was

1002
00:47:04,560 --> 00:47:07,359
Speaker 1: expressing his views, he talked about higher suicide rates among

1003
00:47:07,440 --> 00:47:10,480
Speaker 1: trans youth. But he also made a point that there

1004
00:47:10,520 --> 00:47:14,000
Speaker 1: were only four trans high school students that this bill

1005
00:47:14,120 --> 00:47:17,279
Speaker 1: was going to affect, right, and he said, rarely has

1006
00:47:17,360 --> 00:47:20,359
Speaker 1: so much fear and anger been directed at so few.

1007
00:47:21,239 --> 00:47:22,800
Speaker 1: I don't I don't even know what to make of that.

1008
00:47:22,840 --> 00:47:24,719
Speaker 1: And I'm wondering what you what you make of that.

1009
00:47:25,120 --> 00:47:28,640
Speaker 1: It's so impactful for those four people, it's everything, it's

1010
00:47:28,719 --> 00:47:32,040
Speaker 1: it's their lives. Yeah, Yeah, indeed, I mean I think that,

1011
00:47:32,320 --> 00:47:34,440
Speaker 1: you know, the thing about sports, I think is is

1012
00:47:34,520 --> 00:47:37,120
Speaker 1: the most political theater of all of them. And it's

1013
00:47:37,160 --> 00:47:41,640
Speaker 1: because it's the most sort of appealing I guess, I

1014
00:47:41,680 --> 00:47:43,800
Speaker 1: would say argument and and in fact, I think that,

1015
00:47:44,640 --> 00:47:47,840
Speaker 1: you know, it's one of the few areas around trans

1016
00:47:48,160 --> 00:47:50,480
Speaker 1: people's place in society that I think there's some room

1017
00:47:50,520 --> 00:47:53,640
Speaker 1: for honest disagreement about. You know, I don't think that

1018
00:47:54,239 --> 00:47:56,239
Speaker 1: builds like those in Utah fall into the realm of

1019
00:47:56,280 --> 00:47:59,200
Speaker 1: honest disagreement or things like that. I think that again,

1020
00:47:59,400 --> 00:48:02,200
Speaker 1: these are kids they're playing sports to play sports and

1021
00:48:02,320 --> 00:48:04,480
Speaker 1: run around with their friends and compete and all this

1022
00:48:04,600 --> 00:48:07,799
Speaker 1: sort of thing. But you know, nobody should be taking

1023
00:48:07,840 --> 00:48:11,680
Speaker 1: it that seriously in general, and you know, in particular,

1024
00:48:11,760 --> 00:48:14,400
Speaker 1: they shouldn't be taking it so seriously that they're bringing

1025
00:48:14,400 --> 00:48:17,040
Speaker 1: the weight of the state down on these four kids.

1026
00:48:17,800 --> 00:48:20,680
Speaker 1: When you say honest disagreement, can you explain what you

1027
00:48:20,719 --> 00:48:22,759
Speaker 1: mean by that. I think I mean, like, at the

1028
00:48:23,000 --> 00:48:26,160
Speaker 1: very top levels of say track and field, is there

1029
00:48:26,200 --> 00:48:28,680
Speaker 1: an argument to be made about what is fair and

1030
00:48:28,760 --> 00:48:31,239
Speaker 1: what is not um you know, And I also think

1031
00:48:31,360 --> 00:48:34,600
Speaker 1: that it's also one of those things where it becomes

1032
00:48:34,680 --> 00:48:37,560
Speaker 1: incoherent because you know, some people are born with certain

1033
00:48:37,640 --> 00:48:40,560
Speaker 1: qualities that give them an advantage, and everybody that's at

1034
00:48:40,600 --> 00:48:42,800
Speaker 1: the top of their field in you know, swimming or

1035
00:48:43,160 --> 00:48:46,560
Speaker 1: track and field was born with a huge genetic advantage.

1036
00:48:47,000 --> 00:48:49,719
Speaker 1: And so what counts is fair and unfair is is

1037
00:48:49,760 --> 00:48:52,359
Speaker 1: a really hard line to draw. But I do think

1038
00:48:52,440 --> 00:48:54,560
Speaker 1: that that's something that people can make an argument about

1039
00:48:54,640 --> 00:48:58,960
Speaker 1: without actually feeling they're being unfair to trans people. But

1040
00:48:59,120 --> 00:49:02,400
Speaker 1: that's a very like narrow slice of the argument, and

1041
00:49:02,480 --> 00:49:04,879
Speaker 1: it's a very nuanced point and very different, as you say,

1042
00:49:05,000 --> 00:49:07,760
Speaker 1: than kids in high school who are exploring their athletic

1043
00:49:07,840 --> 00:49:11,799
Speaker 1: abilities and trying to be who they are in the world. Yeah, exactly. Yeah,

1044
00:49:11,840 --> 00:49:14,600
Speaker 1: it's a great point. Okay, let's talk about what's next

1045
00:49:14,680 --> 00:49:17,719
Speaker 1: for you. Everyone is very excited about the Tournament of

1046
00:49:17,840 --> 00:49:20,520
Speaker 1: Champions which you're competing in. I want to know how

1047
00:49:20,560 --> 00:49:22,359
Speaker 1: you prepared and whether it was different than the way

1048
00:49:22,400 --> 00:49:25,680
Speaker 1: that you prepared for the regular season of Jeopardy. Yeah.

1049
00:49:25,680 --> 00:49:27,839
Speaker 1: I mean I think it was different. To be honest,

1050
00:49:27,880 --> 00:49:30,600
Speaker 1: I didn't prepare as much. And the simple reason is

1051
00:49:30,680 --> 00:49:33,760
Speaker 1: that going into my original taping, my life was extremely boring.

1052
00:49:34,280 --> 00:49:37,279
Speaker 1: Um and my life has gotten much more interesting in

1053
00:49:37,320 --> 00:49:38,880
Speaker 1: the past year, and I just had a lot of

1054
00:49:38,960 --> 00:49:41,320
Speaker 1: things going on. I wanted to go to the Toronto

1055
00:49:41,400 --> 00:49:45,399
Speaker 1: Film Festival and other stuff like that, so I kept thinking, boy,

1056
00:49:45,440 --> 00:49:47,080
Speaker 1: I really need to get started studying. And then it

1057
00:49:47,160 --> 00:49:49,000
Speaker 1: was like a week before taping and I was like, oh, wow,

1058
00:49:49,040 --> 00:49:51,560
Speaker 1: I need to get on this. So it was kind

1059
00:49:51,600 --> 00:49:54,320
Speaker 1: of a bit of a concentrated last week there. But

1060
00:49:54,400 --> 00:49:56,680
Speaker 1: at the same time, I I've always felt like and

1061
00:49:56,760 --> 00:49:58,960
Speaker 1: I felt like this going to last time that fundamentally,

1062
00:49:59,160 --> 00:50:01,440
Speaker 1: you know what, you know, like the last minute cramming

1063
00:50:01,640 --> 00:50:05,640
Speaker 1: is probably not going to swing, you know, any particular games,

1064
00:50:05,719 --> 00:50:08,279
Speaker 1: so don't get too stressed about it. The main thing

1065
00:50:08,440 --> 00:50:11,920
Speaker 1: was that it was a different mental challenge this time around,

1066
00:50:12,440 --> 00:50:15,399
Speaker 1: partly because like, in a sense it was much lower

1067
00:50:15,480 --> 00:50:18,800
Speaker 1: stakes because I've already been successful Jeopardy, Like, whatever happens

1068
00:50:18,840 --> 00:50:21,320
Speaker 1: here is not going to change that. But on the

1069
00:50:21,360 --> 00:50:23,920
Speaker 1: other hand, it was also you know, first of all,

1070
00:50:23,960 --> 00:50:26,120
Speaker 1: everybody telling me all year though you're gonna win, you're

1071
00:50:26,120 --> 00:50:27,719
Speaker 1: gonna crush it, all this sort of thing, and like,

1072
00:50:27,920 --> 00:50:30,960
Speaker 1: I don't know, these people are really good, and it's

1073
00:50:30,960 --> 00:50:34,840
Speaker 1: going to be completely different playing against other experienced players

1074
00:50:34,880 --> 00:50:37,440
Speaker 1: as opposed to you know, always two new people that

1075
00:50:37,480 --> 00:50:40,759
Speaker 1: are there for the first time. So really a lot

1076
00:50:40,800 --> 00:50:43,080
Speaker 1: of it was about trying to get back into the

1077
00:50:43,120 --> 00:50:46,520
Speaker 1: mindset I was last year, trying to remember how that felt,

1078
00:50:46,640 --> 00:50:49,480
Speaker 1: to really get focused on how what was going to

1079
00:50:49,560 --> 00:50:51,240
Speaker 1: come into my mind, what was going to be distracting,

1080
00:50:51,280 --> 00:50:54,680
Speaker 1: and how to how to avoid that. Who are you

1081
00:50:54,800 --> 00:50:57,840
Speaker 1: most nervous to face. I mean, you've got Matt Emmodio

1082
00:50:58,040 --> 00:51:02,160
Speaker 1: and Matteo Roach, both also super champions who won you know,

1083
00:51:02,560 --> 00:51:05,480
Speaker 1: long streaks of consecutive games. Yeah, I mean, I think

1084
00:51:05,560 --> 00:51:08,680
Speaker 1: definitely Matt I think that, you know, if you look

1085
00:51:08,680 --> 00:51:12,279
Speaker 1: at the Jeopardy stat heads on Reddit or wherever, I

1086
00:51:12,400 --> 00:51:14,400
Speaker 1: think there's there's an argument to be made that that

1087
00:51:14,560 --> 00:51:17,719
Speaker 1: he would be considered the slight favorite over me. I

1088
00:51:17,840 --> 00:51:21,279
Speaker 1: also think that Andrew, he who was the person that

1089
00:51:21,320 --> 00:51:23,800
Speaker 1: I've beat in my first game, but quite honest, was

1090
00:51:23,840 --> 00:51:26,120
Speaker 1: lucky to do. So, you know, he really should have

1091
00:51:26,160 --> 00:51:28,920
Speaker 1: gotten that final Jeopardy. He'll he'll say so, and so

1092
00:51:29,320 --> 00:51:31,520
Speaker 1: I know that he can beat me, So he would

1093
00:51:31,560 --> 00:51:33,560
Speaker 1: make me nervous as well. Are you gonna have some

1094
00:51:33,640 --> 00:51:35,920
Speaker 1: watching parties for this tournament of champions? You need to

1095
00:51:35,960 --> 00:51:39,600
Speaker 1: celebrate with some friends. Yeah. Absolutely. We're just just yesterday

1096
00:51:39,640 --> 00:51:43,080
Speaker 1: putting together a trill aboard of who we want to invite. Nice, Okay,

1097
00:51:43,200 --> 00:51:45,080
Speaker 1: well we will all be rooting for you. I know

1098
00:51:45,160 --> 00:51:47,239
Speaker 1: I'll be rooting for you. And it's been such a

1099
00:51:47,280 --> 00:51:49,600
Speaker 1: pleasure to talk to you, Amy. Thank you, Oh yeah,

1100
00:51:49,640 --> 00:51:56,920
Speaker 1: thank you. Likewise my thanks to Amy Schneider. This episode

1101
00:51:57,040 --> 00:52:00,720
Speaker 1: was produced by Kathleen Russo, Zach McNeice, and Maureen Hobit.

1102
00:52:00,920 --> 00:52:04,920
Speaker 1: Our engineers for this episode are Frank Imperial and Brent Bodrick.

1103
00:52:05,280 --> 00:52:09,160
Speaker 1: Our social media manager is Danielle Gingrich. I'm Talia Schlanger.

1104
00:52:09,440 --> 00:52:12,719
Speaker 1: Alec Baldwin will be back next week. Here's the thing

1105
00:52:12,960 --> 00:52:14,760
Speaker 1: is brought to you by iHeart Radio