As “Wheel of Fortune” debuted a new Bonus Round format in its “DraftKings Casino Multiplier Tournament,” grand winner Chorsie Calbert IV snagged nearly $160,000 and an exotic trip to Thailand. On the final day of the tournament, four winners from the week returned to win more by multiplying their bonus prizes. Calbert, who won more than $20,000 on Thursday, gave his competitors a tough fight to make it to the special Bonus Round. He nearly aced every puzzle before running out of time. Nevertheless, he got a 3x multiplier on his prize, taking his total to a whopping $120,000.
In the game, the Million Dollar Wedge was taken out of play as the Golden Envelopes in the Bonus Round feature 2x,3x, and 4x multipliers instead of money. Meanwhile, the Wild Card was replaced with a wedge that could be used in the finale to have a 10x multiplier on the wheel.
In the initial rounds, four players were neck-to-neck until Calbert overtook his competition by cracking the prize puzzle to win a trip to the Meliã Pattaya Hotel and a tour of Big Buddha and the Sanctuary of Truth in Thailand, worth $8,019, as per Andy Nguyen’s blog. He extended his lead by $3,800 in the final rounds of gameplay to emerge as the big winner with $17,619 in cash and advance to the special Bonus Round.
Unlike the usual format where the contestant picks letters and solves one puzzle, the finale of the “Draft Kings Casino Multiplier Tournament” featured a Bonus Round where the contestant had to choose a category and solve multiple puzzles, each worth $10,000, within 45 seconds. Calbert picked the category “What Are You Doing?” and joined host Ryan Seacrest at the wheel. He brought his parents to the stage to show gratitude to them and their love for the show. “I am nothing without my parents and their upbringing and their support of me and my love of the show. So I just want to tell you both I love you, and thank you for making this dream come true,” he expressed.
After picking out his prize envelope, which could either have a 2x, 3x, or 4x multiplier, Seacrest explained to him that he would be given the standard letters, “R, S, T, L, N, E,” for every puzzle, and the rest of the letters would appear randomly, like a Toss Up Round. “So you’ll try and solve five rapid-fire toss-ups in 45 seconds,” he told the player. With everything set and ready to go, the host kicked off the timer and the first puzzle, “S C R I B _ L I N _ S _ _ E T _ _ N _ _ _ _ N”, and Calbert guessed the answer “SCRIBBLING SOMETHING DOWN,” instantly.
With 37 seconds to go, the second puzzle showed up on the board, and it read, “J _ M P I N G _ N T _ E B _ N _ W _ G _ N.” He got the answer, “JUMPING ON THE BANDWAGON” too, and moved on to the third puzzle, “IMPROVING MY FLEXIBILITY” after getting some letters on the board and the fourth puzzle, “WEIGHING ALL OF MY OPTIONS” too.
With $40,000 in the bank and 5s to go, he was given the last puzzle, “MAKING A HOMEMADE PIZZA,” which he failed to solve. Seacrest then revealed that he got a 3x multiplier from his envelope, which took his total to $137,619, and his weekly total to a whopping $158,419.