Jonathan Vargas, who was once the youngest person to ever win the Powerball and the first from the state of South Carolina, spent his winnings in an effort to become the Hugh Hefner-esque founder of a failed women’s wrestling promotion, according to the Daily Star.
Vargas, who won the $35 million Powerball in 2008 at the age of 19, accepted the lump sum of $14 million, which he put toward Wrestlicious, a Tampa based promotion that featured female wrestlers portraying outlandish characters in skimpy clothing. Vargas, who went by the moniker ‘JV Rich‘ while rapping in the Wrestlicious trailer, teamed with Johnny Cafarella, who previously hosted the television series GLOW: Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling, a promotion Wrestlicious was commonly compared to, but the venture failed after just one year.
Brian Zane, a wrestling manager on the independent circuit, reviewed Wrestlicious on his popular YouTube channel Wrestling With Wregret in 2016, which is included below:
Vargas’ failed financial ventures also included his own dating show in which he searched for “the one” among 20 contestants. The lottery winner said he previously planned to marry his girlfriend, but instead chose to challenge their romance in order to potentially find someone more compatible.
“When I won this money, I never planned on getting married, ever. I was like eff that. Then I met Shana. I knew she was the one, we hit it off, she’s been with me ever since. At one point I did wonder if she was with me for the money,” Vargas said in the show’s trailer via the Daily Star.
The odds of winning the Powerball jackpot are reported to be 1 in 292.2 million, according to Powerball.com.
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