A contestant on The Wheel was left in tears while celebrating a huge jackpot win of £110,000, after opening up about suffering from lung cancer.
The popular game show, hosted by comedian Michael McIntyre, revolves around a contestant who chooses from celebrity guests to help answer questions from specific categories.
His show returned on Saturday night (25 October) with guests Roman Kemp, Katherine Ryan, Jill Scott, Susan Wokoma, Layton Williams, Steve Pemberton, Reece Shearsmith and Celebrity Traitors star Joe Marler.
However, the true star of the episode was 55-year-old Sally, a lollipop lady from Gateshead. When she was first introduced on the show, Sally explained that she hoped to spend the winnings on a van.
“My partner Mark and I have a dream of buying a van to convert into a campervan. We’ve got all the equipment, but we are missing a vital component – which is the van,” she said.
“And if there was a little bit left over, five years ago I was diagnosed with lung cancer, and my friends were absolutely amazing and were with me every step of the way,” Sally added. “I also got the all-clear in March! So, I would love to treat them and pay them back.”
During the game, having successfully built the prize money up to £55,000, Sally chose to double her money, and selected Joe Marler to help her win the jackpot, despite the rugby player answering the least amount of questions correctly. At £110,000, it's one of the highest totals ever given away in six seasons of the show.
“I don’t want to do this. I feel sick,” said the ex-England international when he was picked.
The final categories for Sally were vitamins, martial arts, and the beach. Sally and Joe ended up with martial arts and the question was: “The Welsh athlete Jade Jones has won two Olympic gold medals in which martial art? Kickboxing, Judo, Taekwondo or Karate.”
Sally immediately thought the answer was either judo or taekwondo as she recalled seeing images of “a girl winning medals for kicking”. Marler said he would have gone for the same answers and told Sally to go with her “eyes and gut”.
She locked in the answer as taekwondo and began jumping, screaming and hugging the celebrities when it was confirmed as correct.
“Did that just happen?” asked Sally as she broke down. “We can get our van and go on adventures, and I can treat my friends and thank them. What a year! The all-clear in March and now this! But I’m not going to hang up my lollipop though!”
“Nothing is better than making someone as happy as we’ve made you. Well done,” said McIntyre as he wrapped up the episode.
Sally’s win is the second-highest ever in the history of the show, which began in 2020. In November 2022, Jonathan from Surrey won £116,000.
