‘Wheel of Fortune’ contestant wins $55,000 by solving puzzle with a final-second guess
The player, Chad Hedrick got the fans to the edge of their seats before scoring the win.
Jan. 24 2026, Published 2:47 a.m. ET
A "Wheel of Fortune" contestant lucked out at the last second to bag a $55,000 Bonus Round win, after mounting a phenomenal comeback. The player, Chad Hedrick, who trailed in second place for most of the night, barely made it to the finale, where he was faced with a seemingly easy puzzle. However, under pressure, Hedrick almost cracked as it took him nearly all the time to figure out just one word, taking the fans on a rollercoaster ride.
In the episode, Hedrick, a country music lover from Lexington, Kentucky, went up against Rudy Dinglas, an ice cream lover from Fallston, Maryland, and Michelle Hutson-Crawford, an avid baker from Pflugerville, Texas. He got off to a flying start, cracking the first puzzle of the night to take the early lead. However, Dinglas soon overtook him in the Express Round, winning a trip to Croatia. Hedrick then trailed the leader all the way into the Triple Toss Up round, where he executed a perfect sweep to almost land equal. He won the night in the very last Speed Up round, to advance to the finale with a total of $19,400/, while Dinglas took home $13,455 cash and the trip to Croatia, as per Andy Nguyen's blog.
Hedrick picked the category, "Around the House," for his final puzzle and joined the host, Ryan Seacrest, at the famous wheel to give it a spin and pick out his Golden Envelope. He brought along his mother, Lesliue, and little sister Holly, who had an intense sibling rivalry going on with her brother. After picking out his prize envelope, he and Seacrest moved to the center stage, where he was faced with a two-word puzzle. After the show gave him the standard letters, "R, S, T, L, N, E," Hedrick chose "B, F, K, and A" as his additional letters. His letter picks were bang on as the puzzle read, "_ _ F F _ B L A N K E T. After Seacrest kicked off the timer, Hedrick yelled out "FLUFFY BLANKET," which wasn't correct. After a moment of panic, he got the answer, "PUFFY BLANKET," and won the Bonus Round.
Seacrest then revealed that his last-minute guess had won him an additional $55,000, which took his total to $74,400. While Hedrick took a while to accept the reality, it turns out fans were on the edge of their seats as well. "Almost time out!" exclaimed one fan in the comments of the show's YouTube video. "He's lucky to have solved it," added another.
You can watch Hedrick's celebration here.
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