'Wheel of Fortune' player tried to get on the show for 10 years — today, he just won $77,000 prize money

Since "Wheel of Fortune" has been on the air and popular among fans for more than four decades, it isn't surprising that people who watched it as children grew up with a dream to be on the show. There are people who are so dedicated to fulfilling this dream that they relentlessly try to make it for years. One such fan is  Ryan Bird, who had been trying out for the show for 10 years, and finally won more than $77,000 after he made it through.

Ryan who won a significant amount of cash and a trip to Ireland during the game show, told local news outlet WPXI that he had been waiting for the special moment for all his life. “I’ve watched Wheel of Fortune since the days of shopping for merchandise in the 1980s. It’s been a dream of mine, for all my life, to be on a game show, but this one specifically, it was such a big part of my formative years," he said in an interview.

Bird, a nonprofit analyst from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, played against Sarah Crisman, and Diego Wyatt, on the show. While the appearance for Bird was special, he didn't have a dream start at first in the show's initial rounds. The self-confessed lover of spreadsheets and an amateur photographer, lost the first toss-up, giving his opponent a lead of $2,000 at the start. However, he quickly bounced back on the second puzzle winning $6,000, which put him in the lead.

He then went on to solve the Mystery Round Puzzle and added a whopping $12,200 to his winnings. He kept the momentum going and solved the next puzzle and two of the triple toss-ups to blow everyone else away, according to TV Insider. In the end, Bird won the game by quite some margin with a total of $37,049 in cash and a trip to Ireland. This meant he made it to the Bonus Round, with a shot to fulfill his lifelong dream. Bird brought his wife Sarah with him on stage to cheer him on. He chose the category “What are you doing?” for the bonus puzzle.

With the standard letters “R, S, T, L, N, and E,” filled in, the player chose “P, G, H, and O.” With all the letters filled in, he had to solve a two-word puzzle that read,  “_H_NG_NG     O_T_ _ TS.” While it seemed like Bird needed a few letters on the board, the player looked confident.

When the timer started ticking, Bird solved the puzzle, “Changing outfits," in almost under a second. Even the host, Ryan Seacrest was amazed by his skills as he revealed that Bird had won an additional $40,000, taking his total winnings to $77,049. 

“I’ve been trying out for 10 years now and am so grateful to have had this chance. I can't thank you enough, the producers and the team. This has been absolutely magical" he said in the end. He later told WPXI, that it would take him months to process the special win.