'Wheel of Fortune' contestant stuns Ryan Seacrest by instantly solving puzzle to win a Toyota
"Wheel of Fortune" contestants rarely win in the bonus round, but some of them demonstrate what a perfect game looks like. One such player pulled off a stunning win on the show to drive home a brand-new Toyota SUV. The contestant, Matt Lee, fought his competitors hard throughout the night to make it to the finale. There, he managed to shock everyone by figuring out the puzzle with just the show's standard letters and calling the perfect additional letters for a quick solve. As Lee aced the round, fans were left impressed by his $55,000 win.
Lee had a great start as he got one of the first few puzzles to win the featured trip, a River Cruise along the Seine in France. However, his competitors soon clawed back by winning over $5,000 in the Mystery Round and bagging the Prize Puzzle in the PR Round to win a trip to Nova Scotia worth over $8,000, as per Andy Nguyen's blog. With the totals close to one another, the three contestants got one puzzle each in the Triple Toss Up round. However, Lee managed to win the Speed Up round to emerge as the big winner of the night with $20,938 in cash and the trips.
Going into the Bonus Round, Lee chose the category "Food & Drink" for the final puzzle and joined Seacrest at the wheel. After collecting his prize envelope, Lee faced a short four-word puzzle. It seemed like he had already figured out the answer with the show's standard letters, "R, S, T, L, N, E," as he called the unusual additional letters, "M, K, Q, and A."
The letters that Lee picked worked out well for him as the puzzle read "Q _ A R T _ _ _ A T M _ L K." As soon as Seacrest kicked off the ten-second timer, Lee yelled out the correct answer, "QUART OF OAT MILK", leaving the host stunned. "Yeah! You knew it, didn't you?" Seacrest exclaimed before revealing that the player had won a brand new Toyota RAV4 Hybrid SUV.
Watch his celebration here.
As Lee celebrated his $55,668 win, viewers at home were mighty impressed with his performance. "Perfect! It's like you knew it from the beginning!" wrote @momof2wifeof179 in the comments of the show's YouTube clip. "Wow! He knew he had it even before he picked the right letters!" added @nathangorman4600.
"This is the second time this season that a contestant called Q in the bonus round. Q was called in the bonus round, which was on September 9th of this year. Put that in the wheel history wiki for both instances. He knew the bonus puzzle with RSTLNE!" explained another fan, @anthonyguarino4242.
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