'Wheel of Fortune' contestant nearly drags Ryan Seacrest down as he celebrates $40,000 win
Winning big on "Wheel of Fortune" is even more exciting when people aren't doing that well in bonus rounds. This is why the over-the-top celebrations getting wilder is not surprising at all. A contestant named Ryan Richmond, who won more than $73,000 on the game show, got a little carried away during his celebration and nearly tackled Ryan Seacrest to the floor after his last-minute win to bag an additional $40,000 in the bonus round. The music teacher from California was overwhelmed by emotions and had to lean on the host for balance in the end.
Richmond made a strong comeback in the "Mystery Round" after his competitor took an early lead. He cracked the puzzle to win a trip to Hotel Mediteran in Montenegro worth $8,973 and $13,400 in cash, according to Andy Nguyen's blog. He used the momentum in the Triple Toss Ups to add more money to his purse. In the end, he emerged as the big winner with a total of $28,473.
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After advancing to the bonus round, Richmond chose the category, "What Are You Doing?" for his final puzzle and joined Seacrest at the Wheel to pick up his Golden Envelope. He brought along his friend, Ivan, to the stage for support as he was faced with a two-word puzzle on the board. With the show's standard letters, "R, S, T, L, N, E," on the board, he went on to choose “D, F, C, and A” as his additional letters to get more clues. With everything on the board, the puzzle read, “FLE_ _N_ _ _ _ _CE_S.”
As Seacrest kicked off the ten-second timer, it seemed like Richmond didn't have the answer in the bag. With the time running out, he yelled out senseless guesses like "Fleming on, Coasters. Fleming," and so on, missing the mark by a mile. However, with just a couple of seconds left on the clock, he cracked the puzzle, “Flexing My Biceps,” to pull off a miracle win. “Yes! That’s it. You did it!” Seacrest exclaimed as Richmond tackled him in a big hug, almost lifting the host off the ground.
To add to the contestant's delight, Seacrest went on to reveal that he had won an additional $45,000, which took his total to $73,473. As his friend joined him to celebrate, Richmond was overwhelmed with emotions and struggling to stay on his feet. Once again, he nearly dragged the host to the floor with himself as he leaned on him heavily, trying to stay up.
"That's how you play the bonus round. You talk it out till you get it, and you did," Seacrest said in the end, while embracing the contestant and his friend in a group hug.
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