‘Wheel of Fortune’ fans loved iHeartRadio music week — and this Derulo-led team danced away with $69K
'Wheel of Fortune' introduced an exciting new theme in April at the suggestion of host Ryan Seacrest. The multi-talented TV personality and producer has a long-standing association with iHeartMedia. Seacrest hosts the syndicated show ‘On Air with Ryan Seacrest’ and also leads events, concerts, and seasonal festivals for the company. As a result, the seasoned host launched a tournament-style iHeartRadio music week from April 7–11. Contestants not only won VIP tickets to music festivals, but three lucky winners also got to compete with pop stars JoJo, Jason Derulo, and Andy Grammer, as per Parade.
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“It’s been incredible partnering with the iHeartRadio team, and we are grateful to the talented music artists who lent their talents to this week of shows,” Bellamie Blackstone, Executive Producer of Wheel of Fortune, said in a statement. “Bringing Ryan’s world into our game has been an exciting addition to Wheel of Fortune throughout this season.” As per TVInsider, the themed week also gave viewers the chance to go behind the scenes of iHeartRadio events featuring popular artists like Flavor Flav, Lady A, Victoria Monét, Meghan Trainor, Keith Urban, and Lainey Wilson. Audiences also had the chance to participate in the 'iHeartRadio Giveaway,' which included VIP passes to Elvis Duran, The Morning Show, and a meet-and-greet with Mario Lopez.
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The finale of the music-themed week came to a conclusion with three top winners, Andrew Goodman, Mekdes Getahun, and Jay Tope, coming together to be teamed with famous music artists on April 11. Goodman was paired with Grammer, Getahun with JoJo, and Tope with Derulo. Derulo’s team got off to a slow start, as the other two teams each won $2,000 in the first two toss-up puzzles. However, they soon caught up after solving the first puzzle — “All You Can Eat Sushi”— for $4,000, as per TVInsider. Grammer's team soon faced bankruptcy after failing to solve the third puzzleJoJo’s team solved the next puzzle and won a trip to the iHeartRadio Music Awards.
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However, Derulo and Tope advanced to the Bonus Round with total earnings of $12,350 after solving the final puzzle — “Performing a Duet." Goodman and Grammer followed next with total earnings of $12,159. And finally, Getahun and Jojo collected a total of $10,950. The music artists then proceeded to donate $10,000 each to a charity of their choice. Derulo and Tope were given the traditional letters: R, S, T, L, N, and E. To that, they added “G,” “F,” “D,” and “O.” The puzzle board then looked like “_O_ _ _ _ FOR_ARD.”
The duo unanimously gave off the right answer, “Moving Forward!” and won the bonus prize of $40,000, which projected their final amount to a staggering $69,350. They celebrated the iHeartRadio week win with some delightfully awkward dance moves onstage. “Yeah, there it is!” Seacrest teased as he watched. “You make it look much better,” he told Derulo, who kept celebrating.