‘Wheel of Fortune’ player loses $92K — but wins chance to finally take wife on honeymoon after 31 years
‘Wheel of Fortune’ contestants usually dream of getting to the Bonus Round; however, one man felt himself to be pretty lucky despite losing out on it. During the iHeart Radio week of the reality show, the top three winners from the aforementioned week, this year, were given another chance to compete again. Jay Tope, from San Antonio, Texas, played against More Taylor, from Richmond, Virginia, and Ruby Brisco, from Maple Grove, Minnesota, during the April 8 episode. Tope made it to the Bonus Round but lost as he took a long pause thinking over the grand puzzle. However, the contestant was then invited for another appearance on ‘Wheel of Fortune.’ As per TV Insider, the contestants were supposed to play alongside multi-platinum artists Jason Derulo, Andy Grammer, and JoJo.
The very first toss-up was solved by Tope, which was 'Benefit Concert.' This move won him a trip to New York City, including a tour of the radio show Elvis Duran and the 'Morning Show', which was worth $7,500. For his first puzzle, the San Antonio resident solved 'Rap, Rock & Reggae'. The next puzzle was solved by Taylor. However, till the first break, Brisco couldn’t earn any prize, and was stuck at $0. Meanwhile, Tope further earned $4,000 with Taylor being behind him, earning a total of $2,500. Then, solving 'The Best Seats in the House,' Tope won a trip to Jingle Ball in Los Angeles, which will be in December this year.
Moving forward, all three contestants solved the Triple Toss-Ups, with Tope guessing the final puzzle, making his way into the Bonus Round. This was where Tope had earned a total of $17,000 in cash and other prizes. Taylor had $4,500, and Brisco earned $2,000. In the Bonus Round of ‘Wheel of Fortune,’ the new host Ryan Seacrest, who stepped into the shoes of Pat Sajak after his departure from the reality game show, told the audience that Tope is “definitely coming back on Friday.”
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The contestant went ahead with the 'What Are You Doing?' for the final category. As the Wheel gave him “R, S, T, L, N, and E,” and Tope chose “G, L, H, and O.” However, Seacrest stepped in and reminded him that he already had 'L' in the provided letters, after which Tope chose 'F.' When he got the puzzle 'H_TT_NG _ _ _SE,' Tope solved the first word 'Hitting,' but took a long time to figure out the next word. The puzzle was 'Hitting Pause,' and Tope had lost an additional $75,000. If Tope had won the round, he would have had $92,000.
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Following his loss, Tope spoke to social media correspondent Maggie Sajak, stating that in the following week, he would not change his strategy and that with his current winnings, he would take his wife of 31 years on a honeymoon as they had not gotten a proper one yet. Talking to MSN, Tope expressed that he happens to be a big fan of ‘Wheel of Fortune’, watching the game show since 1982. He had previously auditioned for the reality show and even got selected two years back. However, being a high school teacher, Tope was asked by the principal to stay back, as his appearance was during the STAAR testing week.
