Seacrest down!
“Wheel of Fortune” host Ryan Seacrest was thrown to the ground when an overzealous contestant won the popular game show’s $40,000 grand prize on Tuesday.
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!”
The elated contestant couldn’t control the joy of solving the puzzle and went in to embrace Seacrest with a hug but instead knocked him to the ground.
“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 revealed to Thomas that he was leaving the show with a total of $71,950 and slid over to the excited contestant to hug him — this time staying on his feet.
“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.”
