'Wheel of Fortune' contestant somehow solves puzzle without additional letters to win $45,000
"Wheel of Fortune" fans have been facing a lot of disappointment seeing contestants crash out in the bonus round, failing to solve easy puzzles at times. But they were recently stunned after a contestant pulled off a $45,000 win with no extra clues on the board. The player, Donna Hall Nanney, put up a strong fight to make it to the finale, where she was faced with a tricky puzzle. While she confidently called out her additional letters, none of them showed up on the board. However, it didn't bother the player as she went on to crack the puzzle and answer, "Words To Live By," with only a few clues. She left the host, Ryan Seacrest, and the fans stunned with her performance.
Hall Nanney had to fight it out at the beginning, with a contestant named Smith, who took the early lead with $5,550 after the first round. Then, another player, Dystiie, made a comeback as well in the Express Round as she won $11,410 and a Road Scholar tour of the Azores. Finally, Hall Nanney pulled off a perfect Triple Toss Up sweep by winning over $10,000 in the final round of gameplay, to emerge as the big winner of the night with a total of $14,200.
Advancing to the Bonus Round, she picked the category Phrase for the final puzzle and joined Seacrest at the wheel. She brought along her daughter, Allison, to the stage for support and picked out her Golden Envelope after spinning the wheel. She then faced a four-word puzzle on the board to solve. With the show's standard letters, "R, S, T, L, N, E," filled in, Hall Nanney went on to choose "F, H, M, and A" as her additional letters. However, they turned out to be terrible as she didn't get any extra clues on the board with he puzzle reading, "_ _ R _ S T _ L _ _ E _ _."
But she didn't give up, and as soon as Seacrest started the ten-second timer, the player said, "It just popped in my head" before cracking the puzzle, "Words To Live By". Both co-hosts, Vanna White and Seacrest, were stunned by the quick, tricky solve as Hall Nanney made it look so easy. "What just happened?" Seacrest exclaimed before revealing that she had won an extra $45,000, taking her total to $59,200.
Even the fans were left in shock by the player's quick solve. "Absolutely amazing solve!!! So glad it popped into this lovely lady's head & what a sweet thing to say about her daughter, that she is her good luck charm. Very happy for her!!!" wrote @loveforeignaccents in the comments on YouTube.
"My jaw hit the floor when I witnessed Donna’s epic solve in person at the taping back in April. Was still working out the puzzle in my head!" @wheelycrazyeugene added.
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