{"id":13459,"date":"2025-07-22T13:17:15","date_gmt":"2025-07-22T13:17:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/13459\/"},"modified":"2025-07-22T13:17:15","modified_gmt":"2025-07-22T13:17:15","slug":"ray-72-had-won-thousands-to-pay-for-an-upcoming-surgery-then-he-risked-it-all","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/13459\/","title":{"rendered":"Ray, 72, had won thousands to pay for an upcoming surgery \u2013 then he risked it all"},"content":{"rendered":"

It was Christmas in July\ufeff on Tipping Point Australia<\/a> and lucky contestant Ray was feeling very jolly with a $20,000 prize in his sights. <\/p>\n

Ray, 72, appeared on a festive-themed episode of the game show,\ufeff with three Christmas-mad contestants hoping the machine was in a merry mood.<\/p>\n

The former Australia Post worker ‘sleighed’ it through the early rounds, beating Christmas light aficionado Liz and ‘Santa’s helper’ Geoff for a chance at the Jackpot. \ufeff<\/p>\n

Now that could buy a lot of presents!\ufeff<\/p>\n

\"TippingRay certainly looked the part for a festive episode! (Nine)<\/p>\n

Watch the new season of Tipping Point Australia for free on 9Now.<\/a><\/p>\n

At the end of the Jackpot Round, Ray had earned a respectable $3,900.<\/p>\n

He explained that he and his wife Aileen donate a lot of time to charities during the festive season and he planned to divvy up part of his winnings between them.<\/p>\n

The cash would also help fund his upcoming knee surgery and repaint his cottage.<\/p>\n

But the game wasn’t over yet \u2013 as host and tennis legend Todd Woodbridge<\/a>\ufeff offered Ray the ultimate temptation.\ufeff<\/p>\n

\"TippingTodd had some very tempting offers for Ray. (Nine)<\/p>\n

READ MORE: New arrivals shake up Tipping Point Australia \u2013 the nation’s favourite game show like you’ve never seen it before\ufeff<\/a><\/p>\n

The host laid out two generous offers and Ray decided that one \u2013 of four extra counters to try win the $20,000 plus a cruise \u2013 was too good to pass up.<\/p>\n

“Good doing business with you, Santa,” Todd reacted.<\/p>\n

Then came the nerve-racking part, as Ray’s first counter sent the Jackpot counter teetering over the edge.<\/p>\n

All it needed was one more tiny push.<\/p>\n

\"TippingRay couldn’t believe how close he’d come. (Nine)<\/p>\n

“It’s not good for your heart,” \ufeffRay’s wife Aileen reacted from the crowd.<\/p>\n

The good news was that he still had three more counters up his sleeve.<\/p>\n

Thankfully, the machine was no Grinch \u2013 and it turned out he only needed one:<\/p>\n

Catch the heart-racing moment here: \ufeff<\/p>\n

READ MORE: Tennis star John Millman loses thousands in toughest match yet<\/a><\/p>\n

“\ufeffAll of your Christmases have come at once,” Todd told an overjoyed Ray, who threw his arms up in the air to celebrate his huge $20,000 win.<\/p>\n

To make things even better, Ray and Aileen would be able to pay for their plans as well as enjoy a well-deserved holiday thanks to their additional cruise prize!\ufeff<\/p>\n

\"TippingThe very deserving winners, Aileen and Ray. (Nine)<\/p>\n

“I can’t believe it,” wife Aileen reacted, as her lucky husband was rendered speechless.<\/p>\n

This isn’t the first time a contestant has risked thousands for a jackpot. Catch more incredible moments here:<\/p>\n

Watch the new season of Tipping Point Australia for free on 9Now.<\/a><\/p>\n

FOLLOW US ON WHATSAPP HERE<\/a>: Stay across all the latest news from your favourite shows via our WhatsApp channel. No comments, no algorithm and nobody can see your private details.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It was Christmas in July\ufeff on Tipping Point Australia and lucky contestant Ray was feeling very jolly with…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":13460,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[64,63,134,427],"class_list":{"0":"post-13459","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tv","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-entertainment","11":"tag-tv"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13459","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13459"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13459\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13460"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13459"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13459"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13459"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}