Second-grade teacher won $30K on ‘Wheel of Fortune’ — but taxes slashed his prize more than you'd think
It takes a lot to appear on ‘Wheel of Fortune,' and winning on the show is a whole different ball game. Millions of people apply to be on the show, but only 10,000 are selected for the audition round. Out of them, approximately 600 people make it to the show, and only a few reach the final round and win the grand prize. Only a person with a clear brain, presence of mind, and puzzle-solving skills can win cash prizes or, in some cases, be a millionaire. But luck also plays a small part! Clearly, it’s a hard way to victory on ‘Wheel of Fortune.’ But it’s unfortunate if the contestant is not rewarded with their hard-earned money. This happened with a player named Matt McMahan.
Speaking to Market Watch, McMahan shared what happened after he won more than $30,000 on the show. The contestant made the shocking revelation that he was left with only $6,000. How? His total earnings amount was $31,700 in cash and prizes. He received $16,400 in cash and two vacations valued at $15,300: a trip to Chile and a cruise down the Danube River. The thing most people don’t know is that the prize and cash won on the show are taxed like regular income. The show gave him the liberty to find a cheaper alternative to the two trips.
So, he only had to pay taxes on trips valued at $10,800 instead of $15,300, the original show estimate. How did McMahan pay the taxes? He used up all the cash he won on ‘Wheel of Fortune.’ After paying the tax amount for his trips, the money he was left with was only $6000. If he had won a larger jackpot, he might have kept more after taxes. However, McMahan and his partner, Adam Hart, were happy that the cash prize covered their taxes and removed the burden.
“We would have loved the extra $2,000, but given that it’s just the two of us and we share living expenses, experiences are worth more than money right now,” McMahan told the outlet. The former contestant also revealed how he ended up on the show. He and Hart are regular viewers of the show, and they randomly happened to watch a rerun episode from the Teacher’s Week. This entire week, ‘Wheel of Fortune’ hosted players who were teachers. McMahan worked as an actor for several years and even worked on the revival of Les Misérables.
But at the time, he was working as a second-grade teacher in the Bronx as part of Teach for America. When he saw the Teacher’s Week special advertisement, he was intrigued to participate. “I knew he would get on if he tried. He’s enthusiastic about teaching, he works in a low-income school, he’s gorgeous, and he’s been on Broadway. TV would love him,” McMahan’s partner, Hart, told the outlet. The first step of the audition involved making an introductory video. “We did multiple takes; I kept telling him to smile, to show more enthusiasm,” Hart added. And the tactic clearly worked!