‘Wheel of Fortune’: Middle School Sweethearts Boiled Chance of Winning $68,000
At least they have each other! A Wheel of Fortune couple, who met in middle school and started dating, lost out on winning $68,000 on a difficult puzzle.
On “Love Is In the Air” week, Sue and Art Tavas, from Chicago, Illinois, solved the first toss-up on March 19. They originally met in eighth grade and broke up after they graduated, and Art moved. However, they met at a reunion 30 years later and got married.
The Tavas’ played against Tiffany and Charles Hayslett, from Denver, Colorado, and Ahmicqui and Quinton Page, from Big Bear, California. The Pages, who cut down trees with their daughters, solved the second toss-up.
With only four letters left in the puzzle, the Tavas solved “We Have a Knack For Knick-Knacks.” They obtained the Wild Card and earned $16,000. However, in the next round, they landed on Bankrupt and had to give up the Wild Card.
In the “Crossword” puzzle, with the category “___ Roses,” the Hayseltts, a couple who met online and talked all night in a coffee shop that they stayed until close, solved “Purple, Red, Ryan’s, Dozen” for $2,000.
The Pages earned $12,300 during the next round. They landed on the Express wedge and decided to go for it. However, when they guessed an “S,” it wasn’t in the puzzle, so they were completely bankrupt.
The turn moved to the Tavas, who solved “Learning a Little French.” They won a trip to Paris, which gave them a total of $26,848. All three game show contestants solved one Triple Toss-up each, giving them $2,000.
The Haysletts solved the final puzzle — “Sharing Is Caring” — for $6,800. This gave them a final total of $10,800.
The Pages left with $4,000. The Tavas’ were the night’s winners with $28,848. They chose “Food & Drink” for their Bonus Round category.
Wheel of Fortune gave the couple “R,S,T,L,N, and E.” The Tavas’ chose “C,P,K and A.” Their puzzle then looked like “_ _ _LE_ CRA_ _A_S.”
The puzzle was “Boiled Crawdads,” which the couple did not guess. They were silent for most of the 10 seconds.
“I don’t know how you would have gotten to that,” host Ryan Seacrest said. The couple lost out on taking home $68,848, when there was $40,000 in the envelope.
Wheel of Fortune, weekdays, check local listings, stream next day on Hulu and Peacock
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