'Wheel of Fortune' contestant gives a shout out to his wife watching at home before winning $40,000
"Wheel of Fortune" contestants usually face tense moments while solving puzzles, but some exceptional performers make it look like a walk in the park. One such player left fans in awe after giving a confident shoutout to his wife before solving a $40,000 Bonus Round puzzle in seconds. The player, Brandon Rothstein, who played the game beautifully through the rounds, shared with the host, Ryan Seacrest, that he wanted to win a trip to make his wife happy. In the end, not only did he win a sponsored trip, but he also went on to give her a shoutout before bagging a total of over $60,000.
Brandon started the game on a flyer and took the early lead in the first Toss Up rounds. Going into the Express Round, he was making a recovery from a few rough patches. Nevertheless, he solved the prize puzzle to win himself and his wife a trip to the Nobu Hotel Caesars in Atlantic City.
He went on to do well in the Triple Toss Up as well, and emerged as the big winner with $22,150 cash and the trip to advance to the Bonus Round. Going into the finale, Rothstein chose the category "Phrase" for the big round.
Alongside Seacrest at the wheel, the player talked about his wife, Samantha, watching the show at home. "I said, your wife's going to be happy, right, because you got that trip?" the host asked. "Oh, absolutely. She told me, if you're going to this place on the show, make sure you get me a trip. So I delivered," Rothstein said in response.
After spinning the wheel and picking out his prize envelope, the player was faced with a three-word puzzle. With the show's standard letters, "R, S, T, L, N, E," filled in, Rothstein went on to choose "M, D, P, and O" as his additional letters. With this, the final puzzle read, "ON_ _RD _ND _P_ _ RD".
While the puzzle didn't seem easy to get, Rothstein had it in the bag as soon as the clock started ticking. "I love you, Sam," he yelled before guessing the correct answer, "Onward and Upward." "I knew he knew it when he said thank you," Seacrest exclaimed before revealing that the player had won an extra $40,000 to take his total to $62,250.
"As soon as you got those extra clues, you knew, yeah?" Seacrest asked Rothstein in the end. "Yeah, as soon as it popped," the player confirmed. While being confident paid off for the player this time, in another episode, it led to an awkward moment for Seacrest. Previously, a player named Katheryn burst into laughter as the timer kicked off in the Bonus Round, but in an unfortunate turn of events, she guessed the wrong answer to lose $40,000.
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