"This man won $30,000 on ‘Wheel of Fortune’ — here’s how much he got to keep"

[MrBuddwing]

OK, I'admit it, I've never been a particular fan of "Wheel of Fortune," but I found this online article entertaining as well as informative (informative? LIke I said, I'm not that big a fan):

http://bit.ly/2dg6QAv

At least I learned how heavy the Wheel is ("very very heavy").

I was also struck by this clause: "That game show prizes come with strings attached may come as a surprise to contestants who expect their winnings free and clear..." Now where did that charming notion come from, I wonder.


Edited to fix the broken link, since the forum software didn't like the original URL.  -knagl

[jmangin]

He might have walked away with $6k but he still claimed two very expensive trips which originally totaled +$15k. It's misleading for the article to say he only walked away with $6k when in reality it was closer to $17k counting the value of the discounted trips.

The value of almost half of his original winnings were from trips which he could have forfeited to have more net cash. Had he taken just the cash of $16.4k, I'm sure he would have walked away with more than a net of $6k.

[Joe Mello]

The value of almost half of his original winnings were from trips which he could have forfeited to have more net cash. Had he taken just the cash of $16.4k, I'm sure he would have walked away with more than a net of $6k.

$6,000 is about 35-40% of the cash. Do you think it would be that much more? If we use the 17/31 ratio that's only about 9k.

The article also made it sound like there was a separate stipend for travel in addition to the house minimum $1,000. Is that accurate?

[Kevin Prather]

My taxation professor did a little lecture on game show winnings the other day, and shared with us this piece of (what I believe to be) misinformation. He says that if you refuse a prize like a trip, the show (he used Wheel of Fortune as an example) will give you cash in its place, albeit maybe only about 50 cents on the dollar.

I think we've debunked this in the past, but has WoF taken to doing this lately?

[chad1m]

Many recent Wheel contestants have taken vacations won. No cash substitutions.

[Strikerz04]

That's what I would've gotten back in 2005: no cash substitutions.

Heck, even with an all cash total, the $9300 total came down to state (CA and IL) and federal taxes and that was ~ $200 total.

[Nick]

Remember all of this when you answer yes when the MC asks you at the end of the game, "Did you have a good time?"  It's not the money.  It's the fun that counts... right?

[Thunder]

This clickbait article is definitely a clickbait article.

[GiraffeBoy]

The article also made it sound like there was a separate stipend for travel in addition to the house minimum $1,000. Is that accurate?

Likely so. Speaking from experience.

(Sorry to bump an old thread, but since nobody addressed the question...)

--Charlie

[PYLdude]

The article also made it sound like there was a separate stipend for travel in addition to the house minimum $1,000. Is that accurate?

Likely so. Speaking from experience.

(Sorry to bump an old thread, but since nobody addressed the question...)

--Charlie

Had you received some form of compensation for travel, then?