‘Wheel of Fortune’ contestant may have lost $50K, but her manicure won — even Ryan Seacrest was obsessed
‘Wheel of Fortune,’ the highly acclaimed reality game show, once received the perfect tribute. Maggie Rosenberg, from Los Angeles, California, appeared on the February 17 episode, with her nails painted in the iconic colors of the ‘Wheel of Fortune’ wheel. She was competing against hobbyist magician Morgan May, from Minneapolis, Minnesota, and Tomell Brown, from Rex, Georgia. Interestingly, Brown is also a self-published self-help book author.
During the initial game, Rosenberg had a slow start. In the first round, it was May who solved all of the puzzles, leaving Brown and Rosenberg behind with no wins at all. May earned $10,250 quickly. In the second round, Rosenberg finally entered the game; however, she used all of her money buying vowels. During her game, she even won a Wild Card—an upper hand if she entered the Bonus Round. Further on the reality game show, Rosenberg solved the next puzzle, making $1,000, while the other two contestants remained at the same amount.
The food festival organizer then solved an entire puzzle by herself in the Prize Puzzle round, according to TV Insider. This added $2,500 more to her total earnings, along with a trip to the Galapagos. By the end of that round, she had raked up $22,568. Rosenberg went on to earn another $2,000 in the Triple Toss Up Round. Although she could not solve the final puzzle, she still ended up winning the game. As for the other contestants, May finished with $18,750, and Brown didn't earn any money at all. However, he still went home with the $1,000 consolation prize.
Entering the Bonus Round, Rosenberg—with her 'Wheel of Fortune' nails—picked the Living Things category. Before she spun the Wheel, host Ryan Seacrest looked at her nails, telling the viewers, “Take a look at those Wheel of Fortune wedges,” adding, “How timely of you.” The host, who recently stepped into the shoes of Pat Sajak after his departure, also asked the player about her love for food and travel, which she often enjoys with her boyfriend. Rosenberg then mentioned that she once traveled to South Korea just to eat Bibimbap.
Coming back to the game, the contestant spun the wheel and landed on the “A” in “America.” After the Wheel gave her the standard letters—R, S, T, L, N, and E—the puzzle looked like: “_ _ TE _ _ NE _ _ _S.” For her additional letters, she chose G, H, P, and O. Moving forward, she then used the Wild Card she had earned in the previous round, and guessed another consonant, which was “M.” Co-host Vanna White revealed the letters, and the puzzle ended up looking like: “_ TE G__NE P_GS.” When Rosenberg was given 10 seconds to guess the puzzle, she could not come up with the correct answer, which turned out to be “Cute Guinea Pigs.” Had she guessed the puzzle correctly, she could have won another $50,000. Before she went home, Seacrest asked to see her 'WoF' nails once again, and she lifted her hand to show them to the camera.