'Wheel of Fortune' player misses chance to become the first man to win $1 million on the show
"Wheel of Fortune" has already seen a contestant win a million dollars in its latest season, but since then, contestants with a chance to repeat that feat haven't had the best luck. Recently, one contestant was on the verge of making history with a million-dollar win, but failed at the final hurdle to do so. It would have been historic as the contestant would have become the very first man to win a million dollars in the show’s decades-long history. Unfortunately, that was not the case.
The contestant in question was a man named Michael Williamson, according to a TV Insider report. He had reached the Bonus Round with cash and prizes amounting to $28,340, which included a cruise trip around Alpine Europe. He also hit the million-dollar wedge.
The contestant had said to host Ryan Seacrest that he was quite good at solving the puzzles while watching the game on TV. Now, he had a great chance of putting those skills to use. He put the wedge down and gave the wheel a good spin. It landed on the ‘I’. Williamson had chosen the ‘Phrase’ category and, as per the rules of the show, was given the letters R, S, T, L, N, and E.
He now had the chance to pick three more consonants and one more vowel. The contestant chose the letters D, H, W, and A. Unfortunately, these were not the best picks as a lot of the puzzle still stayed under wraps. It made Williamson’s work a whole lot more difficult. It now read, “_ T / _ _ _ _ L E D / _ _ T.” The contestant’s ten-second timer then started to count down.
He said a lot of words like “settled,” “worked,” “panned,” and “handled.” Unfortunately, none of them was correct. The contestant was not able to get the right answer in the time allotted. Seacrest then revealed that the correct answer was “It Fizzled Out.” The host then opened up the envelope and showed that the contestant could have taken home an additional $75,000. There was a moment of disappointment, but it did not last long.
After all, at least it was not the million dollars that Williamson lost out on. The contestant still had a lot of prize money in the bag, which he said he was happy to take home. Fans, however, had hoped to see another big winner. “That stinks. I thought the puzzle was rather easy, even though hardly any letters were revealed. Guess I just couldn't think of what else it could possibly be, though!” one fan wrote. “Well, it's not a million but it's still a big enough loss,” another mentioned.
Watch the disappointing moments in the video here.
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