Wheel of Fortune finally got its redemption arc when contestant Angie Sutton shattered the season’s Bonus Round curse with a jaw-dropping, blink-and-you’ll-miss-it solve—leaving even Ryan Seacrest speechless.
For weeks, contestant after contestant made it to the Bonus Round with a strong game—only to be completely derailed by ridiculously tough puzzles that even the internet called unfair. But Sutton finally cracked the code, breaking the dreaded streak and possibly hitting the reset button on Season 42.
Angie Sutton Left Ryan Seacrest Shocked During the ‘Wheel of Fortune’ Bonus Round
Sutton, from Dolton, Ill., originally played on the show during a September 2024 episode, but summer reruns resurrected the episode again, impressing fans once more. Prior to the Bonus Round, Sutton played a phenomenal game. She began by solving both toss-ups, then swooped in to solve the first puzzle after her fellow contestant went Bankrupt. This earned her $17,200 and a trip to Las Vegas. She followed this up by winning another trip to Tanzania, and getting a Wild Card. Finally, she solved one of the triple toss-ups, and solved the final puzzle, “Collecting Vintage Cars.” which gave her a total of $42,550 going into the Bonus Round.
For the Bonus Round, Sutton chose the category “Living Things”, and alongside the given letters “R, S, T, L, N, E” she picked “B, M, H, A” and was also able to choose another consonant due to her Wild Card, for which she chose “C”. This left the puzzle looking like “_ _ L _ H _ NS”, and despite having minimal letters, Sutton knew exactly what it was. The clock had barely started counting down when she shouted out the answer “Dolphins”, stunning Seacrest and his co-host Vanna White.
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The ‘Wheel of Fortune’ Solve Worth $78,000 Left Ryan Seacrest Absolutely Stunned
Can you solve “T _ E _ / _ O / _ _ _ / _ _ C _” in 10 seconds?
Ryan Seacrest Shared in Angie Sutton’s Excitement on ‘Wheel of Fortune’
After solving the Bonus Round puzzle in record time, Seacrest smiled at a celebrating Sutton and asked, “How’d you do that so fast?” She responded that “It just worked out,” and it clearly did, because Seacrest then opened the envelope and revealed that she’d won an additional $40,000, giving her a total of $82,550. It’s an especially exciting moment after all the previous Bonus Rounds lost during the season, and it’s always thrilling to see a contestant win big money in record time like Sutton did.
The show saw this happen again in a recent episode with a contestant named Jocelyn, who solved her Bonus Round puzzle right as the clock began. Similarly, Celebrity Wheel of Fortune had one of its most impressive celebrity contestants in Andrew Rannells after he narrowly avoided Bankrupt wedges, won multiple Million Dollar wedges, and went on to solve his Bonus Round puzzle as soon as the clock started ticking. It’s a shame when the Bonus Round doesn’t go as planned, but it makes success stories like Sutton’s all the sweeter to watch.
