‘Jeopardy!’ Champ Amy Schneider Reacts to Fox Sports Cutting Her MLB Pitch

Amy Schneider
Jeopardy!, Inc.

Jeopardy!‘s Amy Schneider is responding to her recent first pitch at the San Francisco Giants’ Pride Day game being left out of the Fox Sports broadcast.

The champion game show competitor revealed to TMZ that Fox Sports sent her a personal apology after some viewers accused the network of purposely leaving her first pitch out of their broadcast. The accusation came after Fox Sports aired NASCAR driver Kurt Busch’s first pitch from the prior week’s game on June 12.

“They say the reason they misled their viewers was for cross-promotion, not anything to do with me, so I’ll take them at their word,” said Schneider, who is one of the current Jeopardy! season’s best competitors and the first transgender contestant to compete in the upcoming Tournament of Champions.

Jeopardy! Amy Schneider

(Credit: Jeopardy!, Inc.)

The director of the broadcast at Fox Sports reportedly reached out to Schneider to make sure she knew the situation had nothing to do with her identity. In a statement from a Fox Sports spokesperson, it was clarified that Busch’s first pitch had to do with upcoming programming surrounding NASCAR and that they don’t typically air the game-opening tradition for viewers at home.

“On Saturday, part of a promotional package for the weekend’s NASCAR race in northern California, we aired a taped first pitch of famed NASCAR driver Kurt Busch,” the spokesperson told SFGATE.com. “This promotion was in no way meant to overshadow the ceremonial first pitch for the game as it is not routine for us to air.”

Having accepted Fox Sports’ apology, Schneider has plenty to look forward to as she’ll go head-to-head with some of Jeopardy!‘s other greats in the upcoming Tournament of Champions which will feature Matt Amodio, Mattea Roach, and Ryan Long among others.

And rest assured, even if Fox Sports didn’t air Amy’s first pitch, fans caught the moment on camera. Check out her impressive throw, below, and stay tuned for her return to Jeopardy!.

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