Ryan Seacrest celebrated with one fortunate Wheel of Fortune contestant on Monday’s episode after a powerful Bonus Spherical puzzle remedy and a large $74,000 win that resulted in telling the participant to “squeeze me.”
The contestant in query was Charles Tapacio, an electronic mail marketer from Hoffman Estates, Illinois, who shared a secret with Seacrest in the beginning of the present. Tapacio revealed he has an alter ego, DJ Wildcat, who comes alive on the weekends.
“Throughout the week, I’m in electronic mail advertising as Charles; on the weekend, I’m DJ Wildcat… Wiki Wiki Wildcat,” he mentioned. “I DJ at weddings, birthday events, gyms… Wheel of Fortune afterparties.”
Whereas he’s used to spinning the decks, Tapacio had his opponents spinning on Monday’s episode as he confronted off towards Daneka Howard from Dallas, Texas, and Jeremy Foreshew from Los Angeles, California.
Tapacio got here out of the gates scorching, nailing each the Spherical 1 and Thriller Spherical puzzles to offer him a powerful early lead with $11,200. His success continued within the Specific Spherical, the place he elevated his winnings to $25,650 and received a ski journey to The Inexperienced Mountains of Vermont.
Issues slowed down after that as Howard and Foreshew shut Tapacio out of the Triple Toss Up spherical, answering all three puzzles between them. Foreshew additionally landed the ultimate Velocity Up puzzle, however Tapacio noticed a pair of Fs on the board to spice up up his whole.
Ultimately, Tapacio received the episode with an enormous $34,650 and superior to the Bonus Spherical, the place he chosen the “What Are You Doing?” class, together with the extra letters “C, P, M, and A.”
This left him with a three-word puzzle that learn: “_ R _ T _ N _ / A / M E M _.”
As quickly because the ten-second timer began, Tapacio was proper in there with the proper reply, stating, “Writing A Memo.”
“Congratulations, you bought it!” Seacrest mentioned earlier than opening the prize envelope to disclose Tapacio added an additional $40,000 to his winnings, giving him a grand whole of $74,650, plus the journey to Vermont.
When Tapacio seemed awkward about entering into for a hug, the American Idol host instructed him, “You possibly can squeeze me!” The pair then embraced as Tapacio’s buddy joined them on stage to have fun the massive win.
“Are you shocked at your self that you just bought that?” Seacrest requested.
“I’m shocked,” Tapacio answered.
Followers cherished Tapacio’s gameplay and persona and took to social media to share their reactions, with one Instagram commenter writing, “I can’t imagine how nice of a contestant he was!! He performed extremely nicely.”
“Love this! All of us want a weekend alter ego like Charles!” mentioned one other.
“He was superior!! Good participant,” one other added.
One other wrote, “Superb @djwildcat!! I knew you have been a one in 1,000,000 DJ however this too!!! Congratulations to a genuinely good human.”
Tapacio additionally posted in regards to the expertise on his personal Instagram Story, writing, “Thanks @wheeloffortune for giving me the chance of a lifetime!”
Wheel of Fortune, Weeknights, Test native listings