Wheel of Fortune has crowned its first grand prize winner in the Ryan Seacrest era as one contestant had a very happy Halloween on Wednesday’s (October 23) spooky-themed episode.
The lucky contestant was Halloween-obsessed Jackie Fakhoury from Visalia, California, who told Seacrest she tries to keep her 12-foot skeleton up all year. Fakhoury faced off against Alexandria Harris from San Diego, California, and John Malloy from Solon, Ohio.
Fakhoury nailed the first puzzle of the night before landing on a Bankrupt wedge and setting herself back to zero. However, she made a comeback in the Express Round, where she bagged herself a Road Scholar tour of Romania worth $10,000.
While it was a close game between all three contestants throughout the episode, Fakhoury ultimately won the show with $14,800 over Malloy’s $11,950 and Harris’ $11,550.
She then moved on to the Bonus Round, where she selected the dreaded “Phrase” category along with the additional letters “D, H, C, and O.” Those choices turned out to be perfect, as this left Fakhoury with a two-word puzzle that read, “H _ D D L E / _ R O _ N D.”
The timer had barely started when Fakhoury shouted out the correct answer, “Huddle Around.”
“Congratulations, Jackie. Are you ready to see this?” Seacrest said as he opened the envelope and revealed Fakhoury had won an extra $100,000. After three unsuccessful attempts at the $100K bonus, Fakhoury became the season’s first grand prize winner and the first since Seacrest took over from Pat Sajak as host.
Seacrest couldn’t help but smile as Fakhoury’s husband and young son ran onto the stage to celebrate her huge win. He also brought in his co-host, Vanna White, to enjoy the moment as the confetti rained down.
“Well done,” Seacrest said. “A big night!” He then revealed Fakhoury’s overall total of $114,800 and asked her son, “What do you think? Pretty good?”
Viewers loved the big win and took to social media to share their reactions, with one fan writing on Instagram, “Not only is this the first $100,000 win of the Ryan Seacrest era, but also the 2nd time the confetti came down because of the BetMGM Jackpot earlier this month.”
“Glad she won I was yelling at home like crazy huddle around huddle around,” said another.
“1st 100K win for Ryan season, she picked the right letters!” wrote one commenter.
Another said, “Awesome! So happy for her!”
“Ryan’s first confetti pop!” added another.
“That’s what I call a REAL “Happy Halloween!”” said another.
Fakhoury herself commented on the Wheel of Fortune Instagram page, writing, “The prize reveal was EPIC. All I remembered was the big shriek I let out! Sorry @ryanseacrest life changing.”
The Wheel Instagram page also shared a video of social media correspondent Maggie Sajak catching up with Fakhoury after her massive victory.
Describing the moment, Fakhoury said, “I was just happy to have the right puzzle… to have the correct answer. I honestly forgot I was waiting for Ryan to open [the envelope]. This is amazing.”