'Wheel of Fortune' player narrowly wins a Mustang but some fans think he 'stole' it from his opponent

"Wheel of Fortune" is mostly about contestants getting lucky and driving away in a car or going home with a lot of cash. But it keeps fans engaged by creating hilarious moments as well as challenges for which audiences remain on the edge of their seats. While the show's Bonus Round offers players a chance to win big, it also puts them on a ten-second clock. Many have suffered heartbreaking losses in the round, but some like Max McGee have clinched astonishingly close wins.

In an episode from last year, McGee from Lake Barrington, snuck his way into the Bonus Round after stealing a narrow win from fellow contestant, Patricia Blackburn-Hunt. McGee, who previously appeared on the musical television series "Dance Fever" back in the 1980s, was in a tough battle with Blackburn-Hunt during the penultimate round of the show.

Taking a swing at the puzzle reading, " _, _ _ _ T _ N _, _ _, T_ _, _ _ N _ _"  Blackburn-Hunt guessed, “A MEETING OF THE MIND!”. Unfortunately, she missed one letter and was buzzed off leaving McGee to proceed by answering, "A MEETING OF THE MINDS."

While veteran host Pat Sajak congratulated McGee on the solution, he also praised Blackburn-Hunt, telling her, “That was a terrific guess, and I am so sorry. One letter got you there. It would’ve been a great solution." He then turned his attention to McGee congratulating him on the cheeky win. "You picked it up, and you end up as the big winner," Sajak said as McGee went ahead with a $32,910 prize collection.

Going into the bonus round, McGee spun the wheel and got his lucky golden envelope. Feeling confident from his previous victory, he decided to select the  “Phrase” category again for the Bonus Round as he was playing for a Mustang convertible. With the standard letters "R,S,T,L,N,E" filled in, McGee chose "H,D,C,O" as additional letters. He was finally facing a four-word puzzle that read “_E / _ RE / _O_ _ N_ / _OR_ _RD.” "It's a phrase, talk it out!" Sajak told McGee.

However,  when the ten-second timer went off, McGee was stumped by the long puzzle. He fired off a quick guess “We Are Moving Forward” which turned out to be incorrect. After hesitating a bit, he made another guess, "We Are Going On The Record" which too was wrong. With nearly milliseconds to spare, McGee made a last-ditch effort to get it right, saying, "We Are Moving Forward". As he said the phrase, the buzzer went off at the same time.

Luckily, the judges counted the guess as valid and Sajak announced that he was a winner. "I had to check with the judges. You ran back and you picked it up!" Sajak said while opening the golden envelope. This took his total prize value to  $77,645.

Viewers at home were equally thrilled to witness the last-second win. "Wow! You broke the buzzer!" @jgn24 commented on the show's YouTube clip. Some even felt like McGee didn’t deserve his spot in the Bonus Round, as he stole it from another player. “Max definitely STOLE it from Patricia! He COULDN’T have done it on his own! He would’ve thought the puzzle solve was an “E”! LMAOOOOO!” wrote @1MilitaryWifey1 on X.