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Seacrest down!
During a recent episode of “Wheel of Fortune,” host Ryan Seacrest experienced an unexpected moment when a contestant enthusiastically won the game’s $40,000 grand prize.
Pittsburgh native Daniel Thomas needed to solve a one-word, seven-letter puzzle in the “Living Things” category in the show’s daunting bonus round.
Seacrest gave the anxious-looking contestant the letters “R, S, T, L, N, E” to start with the “S” and the “E” appearing on the board.
Thomas then chose “H, G, D, O,” but the only letter to appear was a “G.”
With only 10 seconds to solve the puzzle, Thomas blurted out, “Guppies” just before time expired.
“Yes!” Seacrest told him. “You did it!”
Feeling overwhelmed with joy after solving a puzzle, the contestant attempted to give Seacrest a hug but accidentally pushed him to the ground in the process.
“Oh my gosh!” Thomas yelled as he went to help the host up.
“I’m good, I’m good,” Seacrest said with a smile.
The former “American Idol” host jumped back to his feet and immediately revealed that Thomas won $40,000.
“Daniel, easy on our host, but celebrate with $40,000,” show announcer Jim Thornton told Thomas as he embraced his family.
Seacrest, having won a significant total of $71,950 during the episode, managed to regain his footing and approached the elated contestant to offer a hug as well.
“How did you do that in the last second,” Seacrest asked.
“Push you over or solve the puzzle,” Thomas joked.
Thomas shared that when he “saw the letter P, the word just popped” into his head.
The clip, posted on the game show’s YouTube page, garnered some interesting reactions from fans — who all mostly seemed excited for Thomas and got a kick out of him knocking the host down.
“That was an amazing solve & the funniest thing I’ve seen all day after the solve,” one user commented.
“That tackle is worth a lot of money!” another chimed in.
“Whoa! I can’t believe Daniel won the bonus round, but he also knocked Ryan down! Ooh, I hope he’s all right,” wrote another.
Seacrest began hosting “Wheel of Fortune” alongside co-host Vanna White on Sept. 9 after Pat Sajak, the show’s longtime host, announced he would leave in June 2023.
“I love giving away the money,” he told Fox News in December. “I get so excited when people win the money, and they win a lot of money. I’m hoping to give away a million dollars in 2025.”