<P> The network version allowed champions to appear for up to five days originally, which was later reduced to three . The syndicated version, which originally retired contestants after one episode, adopted the three - day champion rule at the start of the seventh season in 1989 . In later years, the top three winners from the week's first four shows returned to compete in the "Friday Finals". When the jackpot wedge was introduced, it began at $10,000 instead of $5,000 on Fridays . The rules allowing champions to return after their initial appearances were eliminated permanently beginning with the syndicated episode aired September 21, 1998, and contestants appear only on a single episode . </P> <P> Before December 1981, the show did not feature a bonus round . Under the bonus round's original rules, no letters were provided automatically . The contestant asked for five consonants and a vowel, and then had fifteen seconds to attempt solving the puzzle . Also, bonus prizes were selected by the contestant at the start of the round . The current time limit and rules for letter selection were introduced on October 3, 1988 . Starting on September 4, 1989, the first episode of the seventh syndicated season, bonus prizes were selected by the contestant choosing from one of five envelopes labeled W, H, E, E, and L. One prize was always $25,000 in cash, and the rest were changed weekly . Any prize that was won was taken out of rotation for the rest of the week . During seasons 16 through 18 (1998--2001), the $25,000 remained in - place the entire week of shows regardless if it was won . At the start of season 19 in 2001, there were three car envelopes and two $25,000 envelopes, which were available the entire week of shows . These envelopes were replaced with the bonus wheel on October 22, 2001 . </P> <P> Merv Griffin conceived Wheel of Fortune just as the original version of Jeopardy!, another show he had created, was ending its 11 - year run on NBC with Art Fleming as its host . Griffin decided to create a Hangman - style game after recalling long car trips as a child, on which he and his sister played Hangman . After he discussed the idea with Merv Griffin Enterprises' staff, they thought that the idea would work as a game show if it had a "hook". He decided to add a roulette - style wheel because he was always "drawn to" such wheels when he saw them in casinos . He and MGE's then - president Murray Schwartz consulted an executive of Caesars Palace to find out how to build such a wheel . </P> <P> When Griffin pitched the idea for the show to Lin Bolen, then the head of NBC's daytime programming division, she approved, but wanted the show to have more glamour to attract the female audience . She suggested that Griffin incorporate a shopping element into the gameplay, and so, in 1973, he created a pilot episode titled Shopper's Bazaar, with Chuck Woolery as host and Mike Lawrence as announcer . The pilot started with the three contestants being introduced individually, with Lawrence describing the prizes that they chose to play for . The main game was played to four rounds, with the values on the wheel wedges increasing after the second round . Unlike the show it evolved into, Shopper's Bazaar had a vertically mounted wheel, which was spun automatically rather than by the contestants . This wheel lacked the Bankrupt wedge and featured a wedge where a contestant could call a vowel for free, as well as a "Your Own Clue" wedge that allowed contestants to pick up a rotary telephone and hear a private clue about the puzzle . At the end of the game, the highest - scoring contestant played a bonus round called the "Shopper's Special" where all the vowels in the puzzle were already there, and the contestant had 30 seconds to call out consonants in the puzzle . </P>

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