‘Wheel of Fortune’: Ex-Local TV News Anchor Wins $89,000 After Quitting Job
Wheel of Fortune via YouTube
Heather Foster bridged the gap between being a stay-at-home mom and working as a news anchor. She quit her job to take care of her children and now she won big on the Thursday, February 20 episode of Wheel of Fortune.
Foster took some time away from her busy life in Wausau, Wisconsin, to play the game show. She typically goes to museums and the library with her children. With the small amount of free time that she has after running errands, Foster sits in her car in complete silence. Before spending most of her time with her kids, Foster was an anchor for NewsChannel 7, where she worked from 2015 to 2021.
Although the former news anchor spent time away from her children, she didn’t have much luck at the beginning of the game. Her opponents, Babatunde Oyelowo, a video game and anime lover who grew up in Japan, and Eric Dotterer, from New York, New York, who is a frequent traveler and a global marathon runner, quickly and correctly answered the first two puzzles.
However, by the third puzzle, her luck turned around. When both Oyelowo and Dotterer guessed letters that weren’t in the puzzle and then landed on the “Lose a Turn” wedge, Foster was able to guess the letters in the puzzle and ultimately solve it, bringing her total to $3,700. The puzzle was “Life-Changing Experience.”
By the fourth puzzle “Before & After,” Foster was on a roll. She landed on the $3,500 wedge, the $10,000 wedge to save for later and the men she played against both landed on “Bankrupt.” This brought her total to $19,550 after solving “Wedding ring toss.”
“I love this place,” she said with a giggle. Host Ryan Seacrest said that he did too.
Dotterer caught up to Foster in the next round, solving the puzzle and winning a trip. His total was $19,324. Oyelowo stayed at $1,000. During the Triple Toss Up, Dotterer gained $4,000 by guessing two of the puzzles and Foster earned $2,000 after guessing one, making Dotterer currently in the lead.
During the final puzzle, Foster guessed most of the letters and solved the puzzle, earning $8,500 in that round. This brought her total to $30,050, bringing her to the Bonus Round. Dotterer ended with $23,324. Oyelowo ended in third place with $1,000.
Foster selected “What are you doing?” for the category. After being given, “R,S,T,L,N, and E,” she picked “M,D,G and O” as her letters. After her letters popped up, her puzzle looked like “_R_DG_NG T_E G_ _.” Before Seacrest could tell her she had 10 seconds to solve, Foster shouted out, “Bridging the gap,” which was correct. The stay-at-home mom added $40,000 to her total, leaving with $89,942 and a cruise to Iceland.
She tightly squeezed Seacrest after her win, who chuckled and told her “Congratulations!”
