Who is Hannah Wilson? Meet the 8-day champion from Jeopardy! season 39

Hannah Wilson is the 8-day champion in Jeopardy! Season 39, who will return to the show on Monday to play her ninth game. She first appeared on the game show on Wednesday, May 3, 2023, against three-day winner Kevin Belle. Since her first win, she has maintained her winning streak for eight straight games and earned a whopping amount of $229,801.

In her eighth game, she scored $40,000, while her two competitors went home with one and zero dollars, respectively. She was the only one to correctly answer the final round’s question.

As per her bio on the show, Hannah is a data scientist from Chicago, Illinois. As she crossed the 5-win mark, she qualified for the franchise’s Tournament of Champions.

---

Amy Schneider welcomed Hannah to the Guild of Jeopardy! Champion Trans Women

Amy Schneider was the champion of Jeopardy! season 38 and was the first transgender contestant on the show to qualify for the Tournament of Champions. As Hannah Wilson belongs to the same community, Amy welcomed the season 39 player to the Guild of Jeopardy! Champion Trans Women via Twitter.

In an interview with the show’s crew, Sarah Whitcomb Foss, Hannah revealed that Amy was her role model. She was inspired by the former champion’s game while applying for the competition. In the same interview, Hannah spoke about what she expected after being invited to the Alex Trebek stage. She said:

“I was hoping to win a game. If I don’t win a game, that’s fine. I was on Jeopardy, that’s amazing! Like that doesn’t happen to everybody. But I kinda did wanna win. I wanna say like I am Jeopardy champion but 8 days was not in the pick, like I did not think this was gonna happen.”

According to her LinkedIn page, Hannah Wilson got her Bachelor’s degree (2006-10) in Geography from the University of Chicago. She then became a senior research analyst at the university.

In 2019, Hannah started working at Metis as a data scientist. Her LinkedIn profile further states that she has been working at Strata Decision Technology for four years. She joined as a data scientist but was promoted to a senior position last year.

Her bio reads:

“I'm a data scientist with nearly a decade of experience in social science research. I thrive on messy and unstructured data, and I love learning new methods in order to take on unconventional topics. I also play piano, write, and make rugs about astronomy.”

Meanwhile, she is winning hearts with her performance on the Emmy-winning game show hosted by Mayim Bialik.

In an interview with ABC 7 Chicago, Hannah revealed that she practiced with a clicking pen before going on the show. For those unaware, the players must be fast on clicking buzzers before answering any question.

She further mentioned that season 39 was not the first time she tried to be on Jeopardy!

“This is my fourth time. I tried out for the college tournament and did not get in. I tried three times for the regular Jeopardy!”

Hannah added that she was a “trivia nerd” from childhood, which helped her to seek the opportunity to qualify for the competition series.

After winning the May 12 episode, the data scientist will return to defend her win in her ninth game against two new players. The new episode will air on Monday, May 15, 2023.