'Wheel of Fortune' contestant wins $63,000 despite failing to solve bonus round puzzle
"Wheel of Fortune" contestants winning big in the bonus round continues to be a rare sight, even though a losing streak that troubled the fans has ended. But one player did something that no one had expected, when he managed to bag a significant amount of cash despite losing out in the bonus round. In one of the most astonishing performances in the game's history, the contestant named Joe Ferroni won more than $63,000 before even reaching the bonus round. He took the show by storm by solving almost every puzzle that he came across. Through the initial rounds, he racked up a mountain of cash and won not one but two exotic trips as well. However, he was stumped in the end by the tricky Bonus Round puzzle, which prevented him from hitting the $108,000 figure.
Ferroni started off completely in tune as he cracked the very first puzzle of the day to take an early lead. He then went on to bag the “Year of Fun” wedge in the next round and a trip to Hawaii worth $10,480 as well, according to Andy Nguyen's blog.
With $27,830 in the bank, Ferroni took the Express Round by storm, too, as he cracked the puzzle to win a trip to Turks and Caicos, and reached a total of $45,268 in winnings. By the end of the Triple Toss Ups, Ferroni emerged as the clear winner with a whopping $63,018 in cash and the two trips.
Advancing to the Bonus Round, Ferroni chose the category "Phrase" for his final puzzle and joined the host, Ryan Seacrest, at the wheel. He brought along his wife, of 21 years, Marianne, and his daughter, 10 years old, Mary Margaret, to the stage for support. After picking out his Golden Envelope, he faced a two-word puzzle on the board. With the show's standard letters, “R, S, T, L, N, E," filled in, he chose “C, M, G, and I” as his additional letters. With this, the puzzle read, “_ER_ _ _S_I_N_ _LE.”
After Seacrest wished him luck and kicked off the ten-second timer, it seemed like Ferroni didn't have the answer in the bag this time. As the clock was ticking, he tried his best to crack the puzzle, yelling out guesses like “Very Personable,” “Very Distinguishable,” “Very Disturbing,” “Noble,” “Very Very Personable,” “Very Refreshing,” but none of them were correct. Co-host Vanna White then uncovered the answer, which was, "Very Fashionable." "You went to almost all of them," Seacrest said before revealing that Ferroni lost out on taking an additional $45,000 home.
If Ferroni had won the Bonus Round, he would have walked away with a grand total of $108,018. However, the player was happy to walk away with over $63,000 after registering one of the biggest cash wins of the newest Season.
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