Wheel of Fortune player nearly collapses after $100,000 win – but fans notice ‘sad’ detail about celebration
Berto had to celebrate the big money solo!
A WHEEL of Fortune contestant has won a whopping $100,000 prize by acing Wednesday night’s bonus puzzle in a moving game show moment.
Fans on social media were thrilled for Berto, but some pointed out that the poor guy celebrated the confetti-filled win all alone.
Berto from Minessota earlier revealed he “escaped the cold to get some cold hard cash” to a laugh from Pat Sajak.
The jovial contestant, who also always longed to afford a Disney cruise, cruised his way to the bonus round (and, sweetly enough, won a Disney cruise) with $21,917.
Berto chose “Phrase” as his category and, armed with a Wildcard wedge, chose a “WMGAF” as his letters.
The “W” and “A” particularly paid off as the puzzle read as “WE’ ‘ARE’ ‘_N’ ‘A’ ‘_ _RR_”
Berto grinned as the ten-second timer began and instantly solved it as “We Are In A Hurry” as the crowd roared.
Standing with Pat, it was time to reveal the amount on the prize card, and the host said, “You already got the cruise. Would you like the…confetti?!”
Berto flipped out, waving his hands over his head, as the glitzy prize card contained the maximum prize of $100,000.
Berto lept up into the air, yelling, “Oh my gosh!” as confetti rained down, and Vanna White, 66, raced over and hugged him.
The contestant nearly fell to the floor and was speechless as Pat threw a string of confetti around him.
The host quipped, “The things we gotta do!” and his grand total of $121,917 flashed on the screen.
“Why is Berto there all by himself?” one X user observed with a tear emoji.
“Berto doesn’t have anyone there to celebrate with him!” lamented another.
Others rejoiced, “Someone plz, tell me why I am crying about this man on the Wheel of Fortune who said his dream was a d1sney cru1se, and then he won one.”
“I want to be friends with Berto. #WheelOfFortune,” wrote another.
“This Wheel of Fortune episode is hilarious,” wrote a fifth.
‘I’M SORRY’
The momentous win was the stark opposite of Tuesday’s bonus round, which went painfully missed.
Mom-of-one Laquisha faced the game show’s bonus puzzle with a high score of $23,000 and high hopes.
She chose “MGWA” as her additional letters, and the tricky four-word puzzle read as a mere, “_’ ‘_A_E’ ‘_ _ _R’ ‘_ _ _ _’
Impressively, she got the first three words, exclaiming, ‘I have your…I have your case?’
But poor Laquisha could not finish the Wheel of Fortune puzzle correctly, and the 10-second timer ran out.
The puzzle was revealed as “I Have Your Back,” and Laquisha uttered, ‘Oh God.”
Pat didn’t go for the chummy approach; instead, he felt genuinely sorry for her.
“You did everything you could. You had the right idea, and you did everything you could,” he said, looking genuinely unhappy.
“You were trying other words. The 10 seconds just flies by. I’m sorry it didn’t work out.”
Pat revealed she lost an extra $40,000 per the prize card and added, “It was a nice effort, it really was.”
On Monday night, tattoo artist Cairo also aced the first three words of the four-letter puzzle before drawing a costly $100,000 blank.
