Wheel of Fortune fans got a rare double dose of good news: two players won their bonus rounds—and jackpot car prizes—in the same week. The victories marked the first car wins of the Ryan Seacrest era, though a production slip-up added a touch of déjà vu to the celebrations.
On Tuesday, December 3’s episode, Patty Spano from Woodridge, Illinois pulled off the first car win. She proceeded to the bonus round with $42,400 in cash and the selection of “Place” as her category. She sized up the two-word puzzle and went with a savvy “B, M, F, A” as her additional letters. The puzzle read as, “‘_ _ R_ER’ ‘ ‘_ _ _ NT’” and she proceeded to ace it as “BURGER JOINT.” Spano nearly collapsed in excitement as Seacrest exclaimed, “You got it!” He revealed she won the 2025 Ford Explorer that was sitting off to the side and $87,605 total. She yelped, “Oh my god!” while hugging her husband.
On Friday, December 5’s episode, Jeff Richardson from Red Bank, New Jersey emerged victorious. He boasted $16,650 in cash and selected “Phrase.” Picking “GMDO” as his additional letters, the three-word puzzle read as, “O_ T’ ‘O_’ ‘_O_NDS.” The moment the 10-second timer began, he soved the puzzle in one go, which was “OUT OF BOUNDS.” Seacrest quipped how he thought Richardson “knew it” from the get-go, and once more, the host revealed that a Ford Explorer was in store for $61,855 total.
The game show shared the second big win on YouTube, where one eagle-eyed noted something puzzling: announcer Jim Thorton presented the same prize in the exact same way. On both occasions, he said as the car was shown, “You’re cooking with gas in this brand-new Ford Explorer Active!”
“‘Cooking with gas!’ This is the second time he said that when someone won a car in the bonus round,” the top comment read.
Other fans simply celebrated the big wins, same script aside, which accelerated the bonus round victories for Season 42 after a dry spell in which there were multiple weeks of one or zero bonus round solves and multiple losses.
“2 car wins in the same week?! Way to go Jeff!” another fan wrote.