In an emotional episode of Wheel of Fortune an ‘unbelievable’ player smashed through the competition and walked away with more than $60,000.
The contestant in question was Gerard Amento, a former competitive yo-yoer from Beaumont, California, now a married man with two little girls. Amento’s wife, Leah, was in the studio audience watching along as he showed off his immense puzzle-solving skills.
Despite landing on a Bankrupt wedge early in the game, Amento fired back, solving puzzle after puzzle, including ones with barely any letters on the board. By the end of the Express Round, he’d amassed $18,140 cash and a trip to Greece and Turkey worth $13,590.
Amento continued his winning ways and even showed off his yo-yo skills along the way, performing the impressive Eli Hop trick.
“When I was a teenager, I got into, you know, put in the work, got good with the yo-yo, the spinning disk, did some competitions, won some, got to do a lot of performances,” Amento explained before quipping, “But Ryan, I’ll tell you this, as they say in the yo-yo world, it has its ups and downs.”
Amento ended up winning the episode, which aired October 16, with $23,440 and moved on to the Bonus Round, where he was faced with a five-word puzzle under the dreaded “Phrase” category.
After picking the additional letters “C, B, M, and A,” the puzzle board read: “T _ E _ / _ A _ E / A / B R _ _ _ T / _ _ T _ R E.”
Amento wasted no time in answering “They Have A Bright Future,” adding an extra $40,000 to his winnings. He immediately ran over and hugged his wife before bringing her onto the stage. Leah shed tears of happiness as host Ryan Seacrest handed her his handkerchief.
“Unbelievable this guy,” Seacrest added.
Amento, who held a Wheel watch party at his house for the episode, took to his Instagram over the weekend to share his thanks for all the support.
“Hey everyone! The response to my Wheel of Fortune episode has been overwhelming and is incredibly appreciated. It’s been so fun connecting again with people I haven’t seen in a long time and I’m honored people found me worthy to watch haha,” he wrote.
“A special thank you to everyone that was able to come to the watch party! I don’t think we’ve ever had that many people at my house and it made an incredible moment that much more special,” he added. “For those of you that weren’t there, here are some sights and sounds during the Bonus Round. Thanks again, everybody!!!”
Wheel of Fortune, Weeknights, Check your local listings