LeBron James is arguably the biggest professional sports star in the world, and he turned in a killer performance on Christmas Day during the big Cleveland Cavaliers vs. Golden State Warriors game. For one family, however, James delivered a Christmas unlike any other in a way that had nothing to do with basketball. King James dropped by the Whorton family home in his hometown of Akron, Ohio to deliver their winnings from The Wall game show on NBC, and he shared their awesome reactions on his Facebook page. Check it out!
John and Angel Whorton of Akron, Ohio were the first people to win a cash prize from Lebron James' new NBC game show. The Wall gives a pair of contestants the chance to win fabulous sums of money depending on a combination of trivia knowledge and luck when it comes to how a ball bounces when released from the top of the central wall, similar to The Price is Right's Plinko. The very first episode of the series debuted on December 19 with the Whortons working together to take home the big bucks, and they ended up winning $1,300,010.
Folks who tuned in to watch the premiere on December 19 saw John and Angel Whorton go through some emotional highs and lows. Host Chris Hardwick guided them through the rounds of gameplay, and when they finally got to the end and discovered how much money they would eventually take home, the Whortons seemed almost unable to believe what had happened.
The family had a few days to come down from the excitement of competing on The Wall before LeBron James visited them unnanounced in Akron, but I don't think anything could have prepared them to see King James himself strolling up the sidewalk with two bags of cash in hand. As a Clevelander, I can safely say that LeBron would get a pretty excitable reaction from any Northeast Ohio household if he dropped by and started distributing hugs. Throw in the $1.3 million, and I'm impressed that nobody in the Whorton home passed out from sheer sensory overload.
Personally, I was relieved to see that LeBron James had brought an armored car along with him when he delivered the cash to the Whortons. $1,300,010 is a lot of money to have on hand, especially when a celebrity with a huge social media following posts a video of their house on his Facebook page. The Whorton family got the excitement of LeBron delivering them their winnings without needing to worry about holding $1.3 million in cash. All in all, it was a pretty heartwarming video of one family getting one heck of a Christmas present.
You can catch new episodes of The Wall starting on Monday, January 2 at 10 p.m. ET on NBC. Not all winners may get LeBron James hand-delivering a million dollars in cash to their doorsteps, but there should still be plenty of excitement to be had with the show. Take a look at our midseason TV premiere schedule to see what else you can watch on the small screen in the new year.
