Wheel of Fortune celebrated its fiftieth anniversary on Wednesday evening (January 8) with a high-scoring sport that noticed all three contestants reaching totals within the 5 figures, although one other tough Bonus Spherical puzzle ended issues on a whimper.
The episode noticed a showdown between upkeep electrician Jason Blackwell from Spartanburg, South Carolina, world traveler Jennifer Hawkins from Ypsilanti, Michigan, and up to date first home-buyer Amber Holland from Visalia, California.
Hawkins took the early lead after nailing the Spherical 1 and Thriller Spherical puzzles, giving her $19,894 money and a visit to Hawaii. At this level, Blackwell trailed with $3,000, whereas Holland had but to get on the board.
Holland mounted a comeback within the Categorical Spherical, touchdown the right reply for $17,050 money and a visit to Puerto Rico. She additionally picked up the Wild Card wedge, giving her a possible benefit if she moved via to the Bonus Spherical.
Blackwell nonetheless trailed with $3,000 heading into the Triple Toss Up spherical, and his sport seemed to be over when Hawkins and Holland beat him to the buzzer and answered all three puzzles between them.
Nonetheless, he had a stroke of fine luck within the last Velocity Up spherical, the place every letter was value $6,000, that means he had an opportunity to construct up his whole and steal the episode. That’s precisely what occurred, as Blackwell discovered 4 right letters and will have even had an additional $6,000 if he wasn’t so keen to resolve the puzzle.
Regardless, Blackwell ended up profitable the carefully fought episode with $27,000 over Hawkins’ $23,894 and Holland’s $19,050.
Heading into the Bonus Spherical, Blackwell hoped to be the one to interrupt the unfortunate streak of improper solutions in current episodes. He chosen the “What Are You Doing?” class, together with the extra letters “G, M, C, and A.” Sadly, these letters proved to be unhealthy selections.
His last puzzle learn: “G _ _ _ _ N G / _ _ _.”
Blackwell shook his head because the ten second timer started, realizing he had no clue. “Getting… right here?” he guessed earlier than joking, “Not getting this prize.”
“Yeah, I don’t understand how you’re gonna get there,” host Ryan Seacrest mentioned because the timer ran out and Vanna White revealed the right reply as “Goofing Off.” The American Idol host then opened the prize envelope to disclose Blackwell missed out on an additional $70,000.
Followers jumped onto social media to share their ideas on the high-scoring episode and the powerful Bonus Spherical puzzle.
“Practically inconceivable below that strain,” wrote one YouTube commenter regarding the last puzzle.
“Very tough powerful puzzle. He picked the unhealthy class,” mentioned one other.
“Wow. That was exhausting,” added one fan, whereas one other merely wrote, “Powerful puzzle.”
Others praised the extent of competitors by all three contestants, with a commenter on Andy Nguyen’s Wheel recap web site writing, “WHOA – you couldn’t get a greater fiftieth anniversary episode than this, sans the BR loss.”
One other added, “Spectacular $10K+ match by all three contestants immediately!”
What did you consider the most recent episode? Did you clear up the Bonus Spherical puzzle? Tell us your ideas within the feedback part under.
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