NYC lunch lady nabs $65K win on food-themed Wheel…
A Long Island lunch lady served up a big-money win on “Wheel of Fortune” that left her lapping up some $65,000 in prizes, including a model new Toyota truck, a week-long tropical trip and a 12 months’s provide of candy treats.
Single mother Katie McCann emerged as the winner of Tuesday evening’s fittingly food-themed episode called “Living the Sweet Life” — and she credit her profession as St. James Elementary School cafeteria’s lead service employee for giving her an edge.
“It certainly gave me the upper hand,” McCann told The Post while smiling ear to ear.
Katie McCann, a lunch lady at St. James Elementary School on Long Island, was the big winner on “Wheel of Fortune” on Tuesday. James Messerschmidt
McCann received about $65,000 in money and prizes — including a new pickup truck and a tropical trip. Sony Pictures Television
McCann, 37, nailed an spectacular six puzzles with solutions like “one smart cookie” and “pour some sugar on me” to earn a cool $65,253 in prizes and money.
She received a 2025 Toyota Tacoma SR5, a week-long journey to St. Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands, a 12 months’s provide of sweets from Dylan’s Candy Bar, and — the cherry on top — $13,200 in money.
“You can see my face that I’m just in shock every single time I win anything. Like Ryan Seacrest said, I don’t have a poker face at all,” added the champ, who “blacked out” and barely remembers any of the taping and shouting out her appropriate solutions.
One factor does stick out, though, one thing that McCann called the most difficult half of it all — bodily spinning the wheel.
McCann was in a position to accurately reply six puzzle’s on the gameshow. James Messerschmidt
“I’m a little lady — they had to push me up really high behind the podium to reach over, and that wheel is heavy,” said McCann, who moved to Hauppauge from Queens 4 years in the past.
Full circle second
McCann has been a longtime lover of the primetime recreation show since her own elementary college days and even credit “Wheel of Fortune” for “helping me to become a better speller.”
Fate ran its course in 2023 when McCann, a graduate of the Institute of Culinary Education in Manhattan, noticed a industrial to check out for her favourite play-at-home pastime.
Network executives cherished her bubbly vitality and rapidly picked McCann for an episode, but she couldn’t get out to Los Angeles at the time.
“I had to turn it down, and then they said, ‘We really wish you could make it’ and put me in a pool for contestants they really wanted to bring on,” said McCann.
When the brass called back last spring, she cleared her calendar this time around.
“I was like, ‘Absolutely, I’ll be there.’ I couldn’t say no twice.”
McCann was beforehand requested on the show in 2023 but wasn’t in a position to make it out to tape in LA. James Messerschmidt
An indication congratulating McCann at St. James Elementary School. James Messerschmidt
Keeping the spoils of victory tight-lipped for the months main up to her episode’s airing was another problem for McCann, who loves her job — she has no plans for a profession change now — and enjoys conversing with her little prospects.
After finally going public, the college exploded with assist, and children even made her congratulatory drawings hanging behind her workstation.
“They’ve been so adorable, even the ones on the shyer side have been coming up to me,” said McCann.
McCann told The Post she appreciates the outpouring of assist from her college students. James Messerschmidt
“The students are all so very happy, which makes me feel great.”
Even her 3-year-old daughter, Brodie, retains saying “mommy, you’re a movie star.”
McCann hasn’t had the prospect to journey overseas a lot and will vastly recognize the upcoming “sunshine on my face” — the profitable phrase that earned her the journey.
She is also anticipating the pickup truck to arrive just as her Jeep Wrangler lease is up.
“It’s all just been a dream come true,” McCann said.
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