'Wheel of Fortune' contestant wins bonus round after 'insane' string of bad luck had fans on edge

“Wheel of Fortune” fans have seen a losing streak for contestants in the bonus round and were relieved when someone finally won after 19 games. Something similar happened in a single episode when fans saw an unbelievable string of bad luck as all contestants either went bankrupt or lost a turn more than once within a few minutes.  But everyone found relief when one of them was able to win in the Bonus Round.

According to a TV Insider report, the contestants were Melissa Brickey, Brent Lau, and Tanijah Johnson. At the beginning of the show, Brickey won $2,000, but the bad luck hit immediately afterwards. Lau was the first to land on the Bankrupt wedge, followed by Johnson and Brickey in the same turn. “Shall we have a conversation with this wheel?” host Ryan Seacrest asked after witnessing this. “What are you doing to us?!”

It was Lau’s turn to spin again, and this time, he landed on the 'Lose a Turn' wedge. The contestant couldn’t help but laugh at his misfortune. “We did something bad before we got here,” the host added. This was broken by Johnson, who landed on the $800 wedge, but she once again found the dreaded black and white wedge on her second spin. This all came to an end when Johnson got the next one on the $600 and solved the puzzle.

Fans of the show had a discussion about the matter on the Reddit thread r/jeopardy, and most could not believe what they were seeing. “That was insane!! What are the odds of that happening so many times in a row?” one fan asked. “I can’t believe the bankrupt curse happened for the first time in a new era!” quipped another. “Yep, that was crazy!! Good mix of bankrupt and lose a turn,” wrote another.

The curse was broken completely in the end by Brickey, who made it through to the Bonus Round with $20,050. She had chosen the Food and Drink category and, according to the norm of the show, was given the letters R, S, T, L, N, and E. The contestant then had to choose three more consonants and one more vowel. She went with the letters P, D, C, and O. After these letters were revealed, the puzzle read, “PO_C_ED  S_L_ON.”

Seacrest asked the audience to be silent as even he knew that this was an easy solve. It did not take the contestant long before she said, “Poached Salmon.” That was the correct answer. The host then opened up the envelope to reveal that she had won an additional $40,000. That got her total for the day to $60,050, which is a big sum of money. Fans of the show congratulated the contestants on YouTube.

“Yayyyy Melissa you did great....this lady was my school educator, she's awesome❤🎉 from our home here in STL,” one viewer wrote under the clip on YouTube. “Just like last week, finally a bonus round win! “Food & Drink” is 2 for 2 this season. Congrats Melissa!” added another. “Finally a great bonus round win for Melissa congrats!” one more fan commented.