Pat Sajak says he nearly had a stroke after witnessing a tense moment on 'Wheel of Fortune'
"Wheel of Fortune" games may seem like all fun and games with a lot of luck involved, but the stakes are high, and things tend to get intense at times. Something like that was witnessed when a contestant named Willie made it to the game show, and as things reached a nail-biting finish, the host, Pat Sajak, almost had a stroke and was left holding his heart, as per an iHeart report. The contestant was on fire from the get-go and was even startled by Sajak's reaction.
Willie was a school bus driver and instructor from Illinois. He was lucky enough to get the million-dollar wedge on the big wheel, and he also got a wild card. He hardly missed any detail and didn’t get a single puzzle wrong. This incredible performance earned him a spot in the Bonus Round with a wild card and the million-dollar wedge.
For the Bonus Round, the contestant chose the Phrases category. As has been the norm on the show for many years, Sajak gave him the letters R, S, T, L, N, and E. After these letters were revealed, the puzzle read, “_ ___LE L_T __ ___E,” and Willie had to choose four consonants, thanks to the wild card, and one vowel. He decided to go ahead with the letters M, P, G, I, and H. But only three spaces in the puzzle were uncovered, and that didn't help. It would've been impossible to solve the puzzle without a wild card. The puzzle now read, “_ _H_LE L_T __ H__E.” This was still quite tough, but Willie’s form on the episode was so good that the host had full faith in him. “He may know it. It’s a phrase. That H was nice, huh?” Sajak said.
The 10 seconds began counting down, and the contestant immediately said, “A whole lot of hope.” The audience thought that was the correct answer and started cheering loudly. Sajak had to come in and inform everyone that it wasn’t the right answer. There was a bit of chaos, but the player's time was still running out. Willie quickly composed himself again and said, “A whole lot of hype.”
That was the correct answer, and he heaved a sigh of relief, but Sajak had screamed “No” to the audience after his first answer, and that had made him nervous. He asked the host, “Why’d you do that to me?” and Sajak simply replied, “I don’t know. I had a whole lot of stroke going on there,” while holding his chest.
The contestant wasn’t able to win the million dollars, but he won a Toyota 4Runner. His loved ones were overjoyed as they rushed to the stage and celebrated before running over to their car. “I think everyone survived the collision up there,” Sajak said. Willie’s incredible performance won him more than $57,000 in cash in addition to the prizes on the show.
