Wheel Of Fortune contestant misses out on $1 million prize because of one simple word

“Wheel of Fortune” can be a brutal game at times. While many have won big money, more have lost their hopes and dreams. However, rarely has anyone lost in as heartbreaking fashion as Vivian Tran. The contestant who was on a roll picking up the million dollar shot and a wild card, lost it all in the bonus round. After getting two out of three words right, Tran was at a loss for the third and final piece of the puzzle.

A word worth a million dollars

During Ryan Seacrest’s second week of hosting the long-running game show, Tran made her way to the bonus round with the “One Million”. Thus, the $100,000 prize was replaced with $1 million as she spun the wheel. After collecting the envelope, the contestant proceeded to solve the puzzle.

She had chosen the category, "What are you doing?" for her final puzzle. With the standard letter" R S T L N E" filled in, the puzzle read, "_ _ _ E R_ N_ _    S_ _ E     _E L_". With this, Tran had to guess three consonants, including her Wild Card and one vowel to complete the puzzle. 

Tran guessed "C, H, I, M, P" after which the puzzle read "_ _ _ R I N_      S_M E    HELP". She then had ten seconds to try and complete the phrase. On her first attempt, Tran got the last two words, 'Some Help' right. However, the last word, "OFFERING" escaped her in all of her guesses. 

To add insult to injury, as Tran lost out, the host revealed that the envelope she picked after the spin was the $1 million prize. Even Vana White was shocked to see how unfortunate it was for the contestant. 

Nevertheless, Tran took home the $27,000 she had initially won in the game. While it was a steep fall from what it could have been, it still offered some consolation to the unlucky contestant. 

Seacrest hosted his first "Wheel of Fortune" at the beginning of this month following Pat Sajak's retirement from the show. It was the first time in 40 years that someone other than Sajak was at the helm of the game show. 

The 49-year-old entertainment veteran told  USA TODAY that he was excited to keep the wheel spinning but he had big shoes to fill in.

More than words matter on "Wheel Of Fortune"

While Tran lost out for failing to guess a word, previously a contestant lost out on big money and a brand new Audi Q3 despite getting all the words.  Contestant Charlene Rubush made it all the way to the bonus round and answered the puzzle in the episode, but she took a 4-5 second pause to say the last word.

Thus, due to the show's rules which say that the answer has to be said in one go, Rubush was denied the prize. Her loss triggered an uproar on social media propagated by another famous game show winner, Alex Jacob. He tagged both the show and Audi on X (formerly Twitter) requesting them to make it right. 

Soon, the viral post caught Audi's attention, and the company worked up a Christmas miracle. Audi recognized Rubush's win and offered her a brand-new car, which was well deserved.