'Wheel of Fortune' players share what really happens behind the scenes after you win a trip
Several winning contestants shared their experiences under a post on Reddit.
July 19 2025, Published 1:48 p.m. ET
Among the prizes that "Wheel of Fortune" contestants hope to go home with, trips and cars are the most popular. Vacations that people win on the show are usually advertised as fully paid for, and that has been a subject of speculation among fans. The matter was discussed in a Reddit thread in r/WheelOfFortune, where one fan asked if the show truly pays for the airfare, hotel expenses, and food expenses. Several former contestants commented under the post.
For the most part, the show pays for the contestant’s vacation. However, one still has to bear certain expenses. The biggest one is the tax, since it's no secret that prizes won on any game show are taxable. Be it a cash prize, a trip, or a car, some amount of money will always go from the winner’s pocket. The trip itself, however, is exactly what it’s advertised as and a bit more.
“The cost of the trip counted as 'earned income' taxes, so I looked at the trip as an all-expenses trip that was like 70% off of what the face value would have been, which worked for me! And you get tax forms that include the price of the trip, so it’s reported to the IRS - no dodging that bit. If you want to bring additional people, you have to pay for that in full,” one user, who had won a trip to the Caribbean Islands, wrote.
The contestants get to pick the date when they want to travel, and the flights and hotels are booked accordingly. However, things can go wrong on a trip. There could be personal emergencies that contestants face. Even in those cases, the showrunners have proven to be accommodating, according to a contestant who faced an issue at the beginning of their trip to Greece and Turkey.
“I have two young kids at home, so we actually had to skip the first 6 days, which thankfully Wheel and the travel company were able to accommodate. Airfare, hotel/boat accommodations, and roughly 80% of the meals were included, but every trip is different. In addition to the trip, the prize included an additional $1,000 in spending money to cover any unexpected expenses,” they wrote in the thread.
However, just because you win a prize doesn’t mean that you have to accept it. That decision has to be conveyed to the show’s prize co-ordinator. “As soon as you step off from filming your episode, you meet with a prize coordinator who has you sign a bunch of forms – at that moment, you decide whether to accept or decline each prize, so you’re by no means required to take the trip or keep the car,” they wrote according to a TV Insider report.
But if a contestant accepts the prize, which presumably is the usual case, the show makes it a point to submit the relevant documents to the relevant authorities, making the process a hassle-free experience.
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