‘Wheel of Fortune’: Tap Dancer Has Amazing $119,000 Win After Huge Gaffe

A Wheel of Fortune contestant almost cost herself the $100,000 bonus prize on the Thursday, July 3 episode by adding unnecessary extra words to her answer.

The episode, which was a rerun and originally aired on February 27, saw Catrice Sandt advance to the Bonus Round after winning the episode with $19,800. Sandt, a tap dancer from Thomaston, Connecticut, was ready from the moment the game began, telling host Ryan Seacrest she frequently plays the Wheel slot machines.

Sandt faced off against Nadia Exama, from Miami, Florida, and Roy Chinn, from Cypress, Texas. Things started well for Sandt, as she landed on the Million Dollar Wedge during the Mystery Round. However, she decided to spin again and landed on a Bankrupt space, meaning she instantly lost the big prize wedge, which she could have taken through to the Bonus Round.

Still, things picked up again for Sandt in the Express Round, where she solved the “Places” puzzle to win an African Safari in Tanzania worth $12,900. This gave her the lead with a total of $19,800.

Despite not answering anything in the Triple Toss-Up or the Speed-Up rounds, Sandt was able to maintain her lead. This sent her through to the Bonus Round, where she chose the “What Are You Doing?” category, along with the additional letters “B, G, M, and A.”

These proved to be great letter picks, as the two-word puzzle read: “B E G _ N N _ N G / A G A _ N.”

Sandt could barely contain her excitement as Seacrest told her, “Hold on, Catrice.”

As the ten-second timer began, Sandt said, “I am beginning again.” However, the timer didn’t stop, and Sandt mumbled, “Beginning again” until Seacrest said, “That’s it.”

“And Catrice, I need to show you this,” Seacrest continued as he opened the prize envelope to reveal she’d won an extra $100,000. Confetti rained down in the studio as Sandt’s husband, stepfather, and mother all ran onto the stage to hug her.

Fans jumped onto social media to react to Sandt’s win and how she almost blew it by adding extra words to her answer.

“Catrice you made me nervous adding those extra words. Congratulations,” wrote one YouTube commenter.

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“Shouldn’t she have known that you must read ONLY what’s on the puzzle board and NOT add extra words?!” said another.

“She almost blew it there at the end by prefacing the answer with “I am” before saying the answer!! She was wrong but Ryan started to say she was right just before she actually just said the answer on its own!” added one Reddit user.

Another fan explained, “I think the puzzle still counts if you say words before the puzzle but still say the puzzle in its entirety. There was another episode this season where a contestant answered, ‘is it,’ then the puzzle, and it still counted. For example, ‘I am beginning again’ counts, because the statement contains ‘beginning again.’ However, an answer like ‘beginning once again’ would not count.”

“Does it matter in the bonus round how she says the answer as long as the correct two words are spoken in the correct order?” said another. “People babble stream of consciousness and sometimes stumble on the answer. It’s not like a regular round puzzle where you get one chance to say the answer.”

“But in the bonus round aren’t you allowed to just say words and make random guesses for 10 seconds. She could have said peanut butter and then the guess it would be right. I get it during the puzzle but the bonus round is throwing out whatever to see what sticks,” added another.

“Why did she even say that? It was like an anti-Jeopardy “what is” lol,” said one fan. “I think Ryan was trying to help her and coax her into just saying the answer by itself. But as other commenters have pointed out, technically I guess you can say anything beforehand as long as you read the correct answer.”

What did you think of Sandt’s close call? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.