A Wheel of Fortune contestant has spun home with an extra $40,000 after an amazing bonus puzzle solve. Her win was all the more impressive since she got it in one guess and with letter choices that, instead of breaking the puzzle wide open, barely helped her cause.
On Friday, November 1’s episode, Reyna, a fifth-grade history teacher and sixth-grade geography teacher from Philadelphia, schooled her opponents with the highest score of $18,500 and a prize trip to Spain. She proceeded to the coveted bonus round with the selection of “Place” and the off-side support of her brother-in-law, “beautiful” sister, and best friend.
“Great night for you so far!” new host Ryan Seacrest praised as she took center stage and the two-word puzzle was displayed. The puzzle was daunting with only two letters up. “You’re definitely putting me to work,” Reyna quipped.
With everything hinging on her four additional letters, she chose a “C, D, M,” and an “A.” Her choices only added three more letters, and Reyna burst into nervous laughter, Vanna White flashing an empathetic smile. “Only three letters there,” Seacrest admitted. The vowel pick was most worrisome as there were no “A’s.” The puzzle read as “R_ _ M _’ ‘C _ ND _,” so no vowels were displayed.
As it turned out Reyna was laughing out of confidence. “I think I know,” she told a surprised Seacrest. A bit incredulous, he assured her she still had 10 seconds if not.
As soon as the 10-second timer began, she made one and only guess: “Roomy Condo.” She was indeed correct, as it turned out an “O” was the right vowel pick since there were four of them, so it was quite the feat she solved it without them.
“I got that!” Reyna exclaimed in celebration, double high-fiving and hugging Seacrest, who revealed from his gold prize card that she won $40,000 for a total of $58,500. “Well done!” Seacrest concluded.
The game show shared the big win on YouTube, where fans in the comments were dazzled by Reyna’s puzzle prowess given the insurmountable odds as she had very little to work with.
“I always love it when the contestants get excited because they know the puzzle,” one fan wrote.
“That was a pretty good solve with a fighting chance by Reyna and didn’t need the “O’s”, and the “C”, “D” & “M” saved her, no problem and won 40k,” wrote another.
“Lol I thought it was ‘Candy’ but the letter A wasn’t in the puzzle and I totally forgot about the category,” wrote a third. “Wow Reyna. Keep it up. You rock!” wrote a fourth.
“That’s Amazing,” wrote a sixth.
An additional fan pointed out how she did it by using the power of deduction, “She knew because there was no E or A.”
One more fan shared how if she had chosen an “O” the puzzle would have only had one letter blank and been nearly filled in, “If Choose O is ROOM_ CONDO… one spell left.” But that disparity proved to be no sweat!
Related‘Wheel of Fortune’ Player Makes ‘Worst Guess’ of Ryan Seacrest Era
Meanwhile, Seacrest is settling into the big gig as the official replacement for Pat Sajak after four decades. His debut month was the strongest ratings month for WoF in the past three years That said, there have been some questionable moments.In September, Seacrest suffered what fans dubbed his “first blooper”, involving a delayed reaction to rewarding a bonus round. Fans also called out the host for ruling against another player before the timer was up. And there have been a few on-screen “glitches,” and some let-down trip destinations (Salem, Massachusetts?).
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