I wanted to be like Hugh Hefner after scooping £30m jackpot – but blew the lot on ridiculous first purchases
A BUILDER who became America’s youngest Powerball lottery winner blew his £30million jackpot on Hugh Hefner-like exploits.
Jonathan Vargas, from South Carolina, spent his windfall on a wild fantasy when he was 19 – starting a women’s wrestling show and making himself its star.
In May 2008, a young Vargas – who was still living at home – became both the first to win the Powerball lottery from his state and the youngest.
The construction worker opted to get the lump sum all at once and started splashing his cash recklessly.
His first purchase was a Playboy-like mansion and the teenager fully committed to the Hefner imitation by paying for barely dressed women to fill it.
The American‘s next adventure was to throw money at his own all female wrestling TV show – called “Wrestlicious Takedown”.
All the women were professional wrestlers who regularly visited his mansion and competed for his attention as well against each other.
Part of the strange premise was that Vargas was ready to marry his girlfriend but wanted to test their love one last time by meeting 20 women in one week.
In the trailer he said: “When I won this money, I never planned on getting married, ever. I was like f*** 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. Yeah I wanna find true love and I’m willing to do whatever it takes.”
He even rapped on the show’s opening credits with the verse: “I’m JV Rich and I own the show, I got the ring, I got the bling, I got the dough.
“I have with the ladies that nobody disses, cause all my girls are Wrestlicious.”
The show, launched in 2010, was axed after one season following appalling reviews, which took plenty of Vargas cash down with him.
The spectacular failure of the show led to Vargas retreating out of the spotlight, barely ever to be heard from again.
It comes as a woman was told she had won the lottery with an incredible £54million jackpot – but it all came crashing down in seconds.
Meanwhile, a man who won a massive £22million lottery jackpot before spending £500k buying homes for his pals says not one of them speaks to him now.
Elsewhere, a Sydney mum was stunned to find out she had become a multi-millionaire after she discovered a $2million lotto ticket stuck to her fridge.
