‘Wheel of Fortune’ Player Speaks Out After $64,000 Win on Easy One-Word Puzzle
A Wheel of Fortune player laughed after seeing his easy Bonus Round puzzle. In fact, host Ryan Seacrest had to stop him from answering too soon as the host still needed to say a few words to camera first. The game show contestant later spoke out about this time on the show and how he checked off a bucket list item.
Rich Rinaldi, from Narberth, Pennsylvania, played against Cherie Mohr, from Henderson, Nevada, and Unnecia Gathright, from Bolingbrook, Illinois.
Rinaldi solved the first toss-up – “Cracking Open A Coconut” – earning him $1,000. He guessed the second one as well – “Put Down The Phone” – getting $2,000. Rinaldi, an expert travel packer, got to spin the wheel for the first puzzle, but landed on “Lose a Turn.” After that, they all took turns spinning the wheel and guessing letters. Gathright kept landing on “Bankrupt” during the round. Ultimately, Rinaldi solved the puzzle – “Working on Vacation”- gaining $1,150 in his bank. He also landed on a Wild Card.
In the “Before and After” puzzle, Mohr, a concierge at a Las Vegas hotel, landed on the $10,000 wedge. She solved “Orange Chicken Little,” which brought her bank up to $18,200.
During the Prize Puzzle round, Gathright finally got on the board after continuously landing on “Bankrupt.” She had $3,500 and rode the Express train, guessing letters until she was wrong. The lieutenant for the Cook County Sheriff’s Department guessed “R,” which wasn’t on the board and went bankrupt again. Rinaldi went on to guess the puzzle – “Gazing up at the clouds.” He won a trip to Aruba and his bank was now $14,365.
Rinaldi guessed all three of the triple tossups, adding $10,000 to his bank, and putting him in the lead. Gathright solved the final puzzle – “Cooking with Gas”- and finally got on the board with $4,500. Mohr ended with $18,200. Rinaldi won the game with $24,365, and a trip to Aruba. He moved on to the Bonus Round.
The father-of-two chose “Place” for the category. He brought his friend, Hannah, and his wife’s cousin, Danielle, with him. When host Ryan Seacrest asked him where his wife was, Rinaldi said she was home with their two baby sons. He explained on Reddit that he brought two local Los Angeles friends because one of his sons is too young to travel.
After Wheel gave him “R,S,T,L,N, and E,” he selected “B,G,H, O, and D,” since he had the Wild Card. When the letters appeared on the board, his puzzle looked like “G_ _EBO.” Rinaldi chuckled and was about to guess it when Seacrest said he had to do the spiel first. The timer barely counted down past one second, and Rinaldi shouted out “Gazebo!”
He added another $40,000 to his bank, giving him a total of $64,365. Rinaldi’s Bonus Round puzzle was posted to YouTube and the contestant spoke out about his time on the show.
“Thanks everyone for the well wishes. It was an incredible experience being on the show. Everyone was so very kind, and I checked an item off my bucket list!” he wrote.
Rinaldi also said that the Wild Card made him more confident, even though it didn’t give him a letter in the puzzle. He also went with “Place” because “What Are You Doing’ is not ideal because it’s hard to know whether to call the I/G or not, and ‘Thing’ is super vague. That left me with ‘Place!'”
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