'Wheel of Fortune' player loses $40,000 and a trip to Morocco after failing to guess a familiar phrase
Jan. 16 2026, Published 9:01 p.m. ET
"Wheel of Fortune" continued with its exclusive Collette sponspored vacations. On tonight's episode, contestant Romi unfortunately missed out on a chance to win an exotic trip to Morocco along with $40,000 cash prize after advancing to the Bonus Round. She was unable to guess a familiar phrase and ended up walking away with $25,798. This week was an unlucky time for the contestants, as viewers of the game show bemoaned the lack of consistent winners.
Romi took the lead by solving the Mystery Round "I'm Puzzled" category. She then successfully won an all-inclusive trip to Spain after correctly identifying the "Travel Chip" category during the Prize Puzzle Round. She advanced to the bonus round after answering the Final Spin round correctly. Since Romi was by herself, she did not introduce her family or friends to Ryan Seacrest, the host. She chose the category "What are you doing" and received the standard letters R, S, T, L, N, and E.
She then added M, F, and C as consonants and A as a vowel. Romi's puzzle board looked familiar: _, _, S, T, _, _, _, _, _, N, _, A, R, _, _, N, _, _. She tried to guess the correct answer within the ten-second time frame. "Just laying around. Just hanging out. Just winning around Oh!" Romi played around with phrases just to win; however, she remained clueless. Romi was unable to guess "Just Kidding Around". "Maybe another letter or two, and you were going to get there," Seacrest reacted to her $40,000 and Morocco trip loss. Romi took home $25,798 and the trip to Spain.
This week's performances didn't hit the right spot with the audiences; they remained frustrated with the string of losses. "Worst tough bonus puzzle to finish the week. Next week will be better with a different category," @myles-spikewebby8519 criticized. "The 40000 is left laying around though we do need more winners next week to avoid the dry spell," @Animegamespublishing complained.
"This week's regular edition BR ended with only one win on Thursday. However, Mat's redemption after about 4 years and 7 months from that disastrous PYL was impressive. This was the highlight of the week,"@sy-kd6km added. "Only one bonus round win this week, and only 3 in the first 12 episodes of 2026," @johnwiesner9590 chimed in. "Just got the bonus round puzzle right easily thanks to the "A" & in fact oddly enough "A" was actually the right vowel to pick over 3 I's & 2 U's because "A" was a key vowel though, but Ryan is correct, one more letter would've done it for Romi & that would've been D's or a K," @jacobwilson6192 pointed out.
You can watch the disappointing moment here.
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