Big Money Week/Episode 8000 Spoilers (May 20-24)

News

The upcoming Big Money Week, coinciding with episode #8000 (in terms of production number, not actual 8,000th episode, but close), was the second-to-last week with Pat Sajak in taping order, taped on April 4. These tapings were closed to the public, but the show invited 70 former contestants, myself included, to attend these tapings. Expect some great moments and now-rare shots of the audience this week!

For this week only, in honor of episode 8000, the top dollar wedge for Rounds 4 and up will be a gold $8000 wedge, and as a result, the $5000 wedge moves ahead to Round 3 with Express, rather than the usual $3500 being used for two rounds.

There is also a special Jackpot element for this week, very similar to the old Jackpot wedge used from 1996-2013. Each day, the Jackpot is awarded to the winning contestant if they win the Bonus Round, in addition to whatever is in their envelope. The Jackpot starts at $8,000 each day, and each spin that lands on something of value is added to the Jackpot (including $500 for the Wild Card and $1,000 for Mystery and Express), regardless of how often, if at all, the letter is in the puzzle. The Jackpot is capped at the end of Round 3; spins in Rounds 4+ and Final Spins do not count towards it. Like the old Jackpot, the amount is constantly shown on top of the screen during the board shots. Each episode's Jackpot will also be awarded to a home viewer in another "enter the Bonus Round puzzle online" sweepstakes.

There are also two Double Jackpot wedges on the Wheel in Rounds 1-3 sitting on the purple $500 wedges. There is no Prize Wedge for this week. These wedges work like the Million Dollar Wedge (but you don't have to land on only the middle of it), where if you pick one up, lock it in with a solve, don't lose it to Bankrupt, and win the game with it, the Jackpot will be doubled.

Both of the new wedges can be seen on this page of the WOF site: https://www.wheeloffortune.com/win/big-money-giveaway

Note that although one of the pics shows the Wild Card next to $8000, this is not the case during actual gameplay since the Wild Card gets removed after Round 3.