Rosemount resident Delinda Rood earned some extra attention Tuesday night after she won $65,650 on the television game show “Wheel of Fortune” with a speedy bonus round puzzle solve.
It took more time for Rood to say her answer, “warm quilt,” than it did for her fill in the blanks of the “Around the House” puzzle of “_ARM _ _ _ LT.”
Rood indicated to Lakeland Public Television that her mother-in-law’s hobby likely planted the phrase in her mind.
“Thank goodness to her being an avid quilter that I was like, ‘Oh, it’s not “farm built,” it’s not “dark vault,” It’s, you know, like around the house,’” she told Lakeland. “‘Oh, it’s ‘warm quilt,’ and so, yeah, so thanks to her.”
Such a rapid puzzle solve is rare on the show, as host Ryan Seacrest was surprised with Rood’s decisiveness after she said when the timer started: “For my mother-in-law, warm quilt.”
“You didn’t even have to guess out loud,” he said. “You knew it right there with those letters, right?”
“I knew it,” replied Rood, a Brainerd native who won $45,000 in the bonus round.
Lakeland reported that it was Rood’s longtime dream to be on the game show, as she had been applying to appear on it for the past three years.
Rood nearly didn’t travel to Los Angeles for her appearance after her mother-in-law had a health scare, according to Lakeland.
It was only appropriate that her final puzzle linked the two together.
Rood advanced to the final round by solving four of the six puzzles before the other two contestants. She had a total of $20,650, including a trip to Scottsdale, Arizona, in the opening rounds.
She said she brought her daughter, Molly, and her husband, Mark, to California to see the show.
Rood told Lakeland that she plans to use part of her winnings to take a vacation with her family.
