‘Wheel of Fortune’ Fans React After Mom-of-Two Loses $54,000 in Dramatic Episode
Not fair! A Wheel of Fortune contestant had a come-from-behind win, but fans weren’t happy that she made it to the Bonus Round.
Delia Takagi, from Richland, Washington, solved the first toss-up on March 25. Takagi loves to go to the library with her daughter, Gertrude.
She played against Charity Collier, from Bowie, Maryland, and Matt Paquin, from San Pedro, California. Takagi solved the second toss-up, giving her the lead with $3,000.
With only three letters left to solve, Takagi picked up the Wild Card. She then solved “Bowling A Perfect Game” for $6,900.
Takagi added even more to her total as she solved the “Before & After” puzzle — “Drive-Up Window of Opportunity.” This gave her a total of $9,950.
Collier, a woman who likes to be at the gym six days a week, finally got on the board when she solved the Prize Puzzle — “Globetrotting.” She won a trip to India and a total of $14,398, giving her the lead.
Takagi solved two of the three Triple Toss-ups, giving her $4,000 more. Paquin, a married man of 15 years and a military man, finally got some money when he solved the third one.
Paquin ended with $8,800 when he solved the final puzzle — “Crossing The Finish Line.” Takagi was so close to winning. She went home with $13,950.
It was Collier who won the game with $14,398. She chose “What Are You Doing?” for her Bonus Round category.
She was given “R,S,T,L,N, and” by the game show. The mom-of-two teenage boys then picked “G,D,C, and I.”
The puzzle then looked like “G_ING _ _C_ _ _C_ING.” “Going Bicycling,” Collier guessed. “Going…”
The contestant couldn’t solve “Going Backpacking.” There was $40,000 in the envelope, which would have given Collier a total of $54,398.
Some fans didn’t think Collier deserved to win the game. “I don’t know how that lady made it to the bonus round. She was a terrible player,” one Reddit user said. “I hate that whoever wins the prize puzzle is pretty much guaranteed to win the game. The overinflated prices of the trips unfairly pad the total.”
“Once again, one win prize puzzle wins the round!” another commented.
“I knew Charity wouldn’t get the Bonus Round before I saw it. She was a terrible player,” a third added.
Wheel of Fortune, weekdays, check local listings, stream next day on Hulu and Peacock
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