He got a little too excited! A Wheel of Fortune contestant “tossed around” and nearly knocked over host Ryan Seacrest after he won $64,000.
Rich Bruno, from Freehold, New Jersey, solved the first toss-up on May 12. He has been married for 28 years and has three kids.
Bruno played against Lisa Mirae, from Irvine, California, and Helen B. Evans, from Chicago, Illinois. Bruno solved the second toss-up as well, giving him $3,000.
He had solved most of the Crossword Puzzle in the category of “Shhh….” However, the contestant landed on Bankrupt, so the turn moved to Mirae, who won an award at summer camp for having a little bark with a big bite, and solved “Lull, Silence, Quiet, Mute” for $1,650.
During the next round, Bruno landed on Bankrupt once again. Mirae called a letter that wasn’t in the puzzle. Evans, a woman in a 40-plus double dutch group, landed on the Mystery Wedge, which had $10,000 on the other side of it. She guessed one more letter before landing on Bankrupt again. Bruno landed on Bankrupt again before Mirae solved “Long Lines at the DMV.” She took the lead with $3,050.
“That was a nerve-wracking few minutes there for that puzzle,” Seacrest said.
Bruno finally put more money in his bank when he solved “Extravagant Suites.” He won a trip to Montreal, putting $19,754 in his bank.
Evans finally won some money when she solved two of the three Triple Toss-ups, giving her $4,000. Mirae solved the third.
Evans tried to guess the final puzzle many times, but kept guessing wrong. When there were only vowels left, Bruno correctly solved “Five-Star Flavors, ” giving him a final total of $24,854.
Mirae left with $7,050. Evans took home $2,000.
Bruno chose “Phrase” for his Bonus Puzzle category. He brought his wife, Maureen, with him.
Wheel of Fortune gave him “R,S,T,L,N, and E.” Bruno rounded out his puzzle with “C,H,F, and O.”
The puzzle then looked like “_O FOR _RO_E.” Before the clock could start, Bruno solved “Go For Broke.”
The game show contestant hugged Seacrest, nearly knocked him over, and made him drop the envelope. “Hold on. I have something to tell you,” the host said.
When Bruno let him go, he picked up the envelope and opened it, revealing $40,000 in the envelope. This gave him a total of $64,854.
“Sorry about that!” Bruno said.
“No, it’s ok. I’m used to being tossed around,” Ryan Seacrest replied.
“The guy nearly killed Ryan at the end,” a Reddit user laughed.
“No envelopes were harmed in this episode,” another said.
Wheel of Fortune, weekdays, check local listings, stream next day on Hulu and Peacock
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