‘Wheel of Fortune’ player gives sweet shoutout to wife before winning big in heartfelt bonus round moment
A 'Wheel of Fortune' contestant gave a sweet shoutout to his wife before solving his final puzzle during the Bonus Round. During an episode of 'Wheel of Fortune,' which was released on January 2, 2025, Brandon Rothstein, a divorce attorney from Monroe, NY, faced off against Christel Wekon-Kemeni, a board-certified pediatrician from Atlanta, and Sandi Gettelfinger, a travel addict from Knoxville, Tennessee. Rothstein kicked off the game with a bang and gained an early lead by solving a few puzzles in the first Toss Up rounds. In the Express Round, Rothstein made a strong comeback after facing some rough patches.
Soon after, Rothstein cracked the Prize Puzzle and won a trip to the Nobu Hotel Caesars in Atlantic City. Following that, Rothstein performed well in the Triple Toss Up round, and eventually, he bagged the top spot on the leaderboard with $22,150 in cash, advancing directly to the Bonus Round. When the game show host Ryan Seacrest asked Rothstein to pick a category for his Bonus Round puzzle, he chose "Phrase."
At that particular moment, the 'Wheel of Fortune' contestant candidly spoke about his wife Samantha, who was watching the show from home. According to Market Realist, Seacrest asked Rothstein, "I said, your wife's going to be happy, right, because you got that trip?" In his response, Rothstein went on to say, "Oh, absolutely. She told me, if you're going to this place on the show, make sure you get me a trip." So I delivered."
After spinning the wheel, Rothstein picked out a Golden Envelope, and he was asked to solve a three-word puzzle. After "Wheel of Fortune" gave Rothstein the standard letters, "R, S, T, L, N, and E," he selected "M, D, P, and O" as his additional letters to round out the puzzle. With everything on the board, Rothstein's final puzzle read, "ON_ _RD _ND _P_ _ RD." Before guessing the right answer to the puzzle, Rothstein yelled, "I love you, Sam."
As the ten-second timer began, Rothstein shouted, "Onward and Upward," which turned out to be the correct answer. Shortly afterward, Seacrest exclaimed, "I knew he knew it when he said thank you." Later on, Seacrest flipped the Golden Envelope and informed Rothstein that he had won an extra $40,000, taking his total to $62,150. In the end, Seacrest asked Rothstein, "As soon as you got those extra clues, you knew, yeah?" to which the latter responded by saying, "Yeah, as soon as it popped."
Once the episode dropped, many fans of the show stopped by the comments section to congratulate Rothstein on his big win. One social media user wrote, "Cash, money, moolah, no matter how you say it, you just won $40,000!!!! Congratulations, Brandon!" Followed by a second user who penned, "What a nice, decent man! So happy for him and his Samantha." A 'Wheel of Fortune' fan commented, "What a great game and great solve! Got the puzzle figured out easily! Thought the phrase was in many ways, thank god it's easy tonight!" Another netizen remarked, "I solved it myself, too! Well played, Brandon!"