‘Wheel of Fortune’ Contestant Wins $72,000 After Rival’s Costly Gaffe

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A Wheel of Fortune contestant had a major win after correctly guessing the Bonus Round puzzle. This happened after an opponent made a costly mistake by calling for a letter that was already on the board.

Beth Barbee, from Durham, North Carolina, faced off against Twyla Arbuckle, from San Diego, California, and Bryan Babler, from Oak Creek, Wisconsin, on Monday, April 21. This week, Wheel of Fortune is celebrating Disney Princess Week, with prizes for Disney Parks and puzzles related to them.  Barbee has been into genealogy for over 40 years, which us how long she has been married to her husband for.

Arbuckle, a human resources naval officer, solved the first toss-up of the game. Barbee solved the second. This put $2,000 in each of their banks.

Barbee solved the first puzzle — “Snow White Chocolate”— and landed on the Disney Princess Wedge, which gave her a trip. She also solved the next two puzzles, including the Prize Puzzle round, which put her in a significant lead.

However, during that round, which was the category “What Are You Doing?” there was a snafu from Arbuckle. When the turn got to her, the puzzle looked like “_ _LLO_ING  _ _   BL_ _ _.” Arbuckle called a “B” when it was already in the puzzle.

“Just kidding. We already have a ‘B’,” she said.

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“Uh huh,” host Ryan Seacrest responded.

“I would like to do a ‘Y’,” Arbuckle said.

“Sorry, we have to take what you called first,” Seacrest told her.

“That’s fine. I messed up,” she said.

“I know. I didn’t write the rules,” the host said.

Barbee solved the puzzle— “Following My Bliss” — and won a trip to the Bahamas on the Disney Wish ship.

“Aww. I felt bad for her,” one Reddit user said.

Arbuckle solved two of the Triple Toss-Ups, and Babler, former live music venue owner, solved one of them, giving putting money in his bank. Arbuckle also solved the final puzzle — “Putting on a Puppet Show.” She ended the night with $9,800. Babler went home with $2,000. The night’s big winner was Barbee with $32,392 in cash and prizes.

For the Bonus Round, Barbee picked “What are you doing?” for the category. After Wheel of Fortune gave Barbee “R,S,T,L,N, and E,” she chose “P,G,F, O, and C,” due to the Wild Card.

After that, her puzzle looked like “P_C_ _ NG   PRO_ _CE.” Barbee solved “Picking Produce,” and added an extra $40,000 to her bank. She hugged Ryan Seacrest and her husband. The solve gave her a grand total of $72,392.