'Wheel of Fortune' contestant completely ignores Ryan Seacrest while celebrating with her mom
"Wheen of Fortune" contestants often drag the hosts into their celebration, and this involves anything from hugging them to tackling them. For many others like Tristiana Hinton, family is so important in such special moments that the host and rest of the cast don't seem to matter. The contestant made it to the bonus round and was naturally elated when she won $40,000 in the finale. She dedicated her performance to her late grandmother and celebrated the win with her mother. They got so carried away that they ignored the host, Ryan Seacrest, while hugging each other, and he was left asking for attention like a third wheel.
Long-time fans of the show know how crucial letter picks in the Bonus Round can be. This is the part where contestants make or break their game, and in the case of Hinton, every guess was correct. This was naturally joyful for the mother-daughter duo, but Seacrest was visibly feeling left out as he slowly asked the contestant to turn around, even though he called the celebration perfect.
During her run, Hinton went into the Bonus Round with $19,000 in cash and a trip to Italy. Before spinning the wheel, she told Seacrest, "I'm playing in honor of my grandmother, who passed away recently. And so she [her mom] has a shirt on in honor of her."
After spinning the wheel, Hinton had to solve a two-word puzzle from the "Person" category. In addition to the show's standard letters, "R, S, T, L, N, E" filled in, Hinton went on to pick, "C, H, P, and A," as her additional letters. As the show's co-host, Vanna White, revealed the letters on the board, it turned out that Hinton's picks were bang on as she got nearly everything on the board.
"Not bad at all. Wow!" Seacrest exclaimed before starting off the ten-second timer. However, it seemed like Hinton did not need much time as she guessed the answer, "HEAD COACH," almost within a second. "Yeah. That’s it. You got it!" Seacrest complimented the player as she and her mother embraced in a big hug. It seemed like the duo got a little carried away with their celebration as Seacrest was left on the sidelines, begging for attention.
When Hinton finally turned around to face the host, he revealed that she had won an additional $40,000 from her Golden Envelope. "Tristiana, you’ll need an extra suitcase for this," the show's announcer quipped. In the end, the player took home a total of $59,450.
The win was so astonishing that even the players could barely believe what had happened. "Oh my God, I won?" she asked Seacrest in the end, who assured her that it was true and she was leaving the show with all that money.
