You’d think a $40,000 jackpot would be cause for celebration, but Wheel of Fortune viewers are ready for bigger and better prizes on the long-running game show.
In the episode airing on Friday (January 31), Cindy Valenzuela from Merced, California, became the latest Season 42 player to win the low-end Bonus Round prize.
The category for her puzzle was “Phrase,” and after the gimme letters — R, S, T, L, N, and E — and the letters Cindy selected — M, C, D, and A — the puzzle board looked like this: _ _ _ _ E N _ N _ L _ _ N _ _ E _.
Cindy guessed the answer almost immediately: HIDDEN IN PLAIN VIEW.
Host Ryan Seacrest opened the prize envelope with a flourish, revealing Cindy had won $40,000. Cindy screamed with delight and embraced her friends Stephanie and Edith, who cheered her on as she took home a total prize package worth $60,400.
But judging from YouTube comments, viewers were less enthused.
“When I saw Ryan was hiding the prize from the envelope, I thought he [was] gonna surprise her and the audience with $100,000!” one person wrote.
“How many $40,000 envelopes are there in the Bonus Round? I see another $40,000 win again,” someone else commented.
Another fan observed Season 42 hadn’t had any $1 million, $70K, or $75K winners.
“I was thought for sure [Seacrest] was going to reveal the $100,000, and it was only the $40,000,” a fourth commenter wrote. “Still, a great solve and great effort. Nice work!”
Wheel of Fortune statistics shared by game show recapper Andy Nguyen show that as of Week 20, a $40K prize had come up 61 times. A car prize, meanwhile, had come up only 11 times, a $50K prize had come up 10 times, a $70K prize had come up three times, a $75K prize had come up six times, and a $100K or $1M prize had come up three times.
Viewers also complained about the $40K prize after the game show’s January 30 episode.
“What’s the point of the bonus wheel if it’s ALWAYS landing on $40K?” one person wrote at the time. “Well, OK, maybe not ALWAYS, but it FEELS like it’s consistently landing on $40K.”
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