'Wheel of Fortune' contestant who dreamt of being on the show since 7th grade ends up losing big

Since "Wheel of Fortune" has been around for more than 40 years, it's not surprising that generations grew up watching it, and fans dreamed of being on the show since they were kids. Courtney White, a former Marine from San Diego, participated in the special "Bragging Rights Week" of the show to compete against her colleagues. While she fulfilled her dream of winning on the show, she missed out on bagging an additional $40,000 in the bonus round after failing to guess the phrase, "Jam Packed Cafe."

During the episode, White, along with Tess Lee, who is also a Marine Corps veteran, and Joe Vargas, an active duty Navy chief, trash-talked each other. In the initial rounds, White had a good run while her colleague and friend Lee landed on the Bankrupt Wedge and lost the $1 million wedge for all of them. This upset Vargas, who yelled, "Thanks a lot, Tess!" from the other end of the podium after the loss. In the end, Vargas, who was confident that he would crush his friends, ended up winning the least amount of money, at about $8,000. Lee won $10,000 and a trip to Mexico, and White was crowned the winner with $15,200 in winnings.

With this, White proceeded to the Bonus Round of the show, for which she chose the category, "Place". Before spinning the wheel, the show's host, Ryan Seacrest, noted how special the moment was for the contestant. “She’s been dreaming of this day since back in Okeeheelee Middle School in West Palm Beach, Florida,” he said. “Told you I’d make it here,” White said after turning to her teammates, who were standing at the runner's up spot on the podium.

After picking out her Golden Card, White made her way to the center stage, where she was faced with a three-word puzzle. With the show's standard letter,  “R, S, T, L, N, E,” filled in, White went on to choose "C, D, G, and A" as her additional letters. With everything filled in, the final puzzle read, “_ A _  -  _ A C _ ED      CA_E.”

While she had a fair amount of letters on the board, White looked stumped when Seacrest kicked off the ten-second timer. She tried her best to solve the puzzle, but she failed to get a single word right. In the end, the host revealed the answer to be "JAM PACKED CAFE," and White's dream of winning big on the show came crashing down. To add to her disappointment, Seacrest revealed that she lost out on winning an additional $40,000 that would've taken her total to over $55,000.

Nevertheless, White went home with over $15,000 and the memories of appearing on her favorite game show with her friends. In an after-show interview with social media correspondent Maggie Sajak, the three talked about their experience, as well. 

The players revealed that even though they were trash-talking each other, they were nice to each other off-camera, and White's friends were incredibly proud of her.

This isn't the first time Ryan Seacrest has hosted nostalgic contestants, he came across such touching stories from the past on "American Idol" as well. Once, a contestant named Jamal Roberts made things emotional by honoring his late stepmom on the show.