A recent episode of Wheel of Fortune features a seemingly heartbreaking, last-second loss for a contestant aiming for big bucks. It’s a hard loss to watch, but the contestant’s luck was about to change.
Having played an excellent game, show contestant Mark advances to the bonus round with a shot at a large cash prize. In the bonus round, contestants must solve a puzzle in a short amount of time to claim victory. In the clip, Mark takes the entire 10 seconds to put the letters together to reveal the puzzle answer is “Moving Company.”
He got the word “moving” in before the buzzer but the word “company” comes just after the buzzer. Wheel of Fortune host Pat Sajak informs the contestant that has lost the bonus round. But Mark, unwilling to take no for an answer, pleads his case for victory to seemingly no avail. Once the answer to the puzzle revealed, there is an audible gasp from the audience proclaiming Mark should have been given the win.
Sajak assures him the show’s judges will take another look at the case as they go to commercial break.
“To our ears, it was not a successful sale,” the longtime host says to the contestant. “But, as we always do, we are going to take a little break and check things and make sure we have treated you fairly.”
Returning from commercial break, Sajak teases Mark a little by making it sound as if the loss is confirmed. After playfully making Mark believe his plea for victory was denied, he then reveals that he actually won the bonus round. The win gave Mark another $38,000 in his pocket to add to his show total of nearly $59,000.
“You guys sold that so well,” Mark says with a sigh of relief.
With the reveal of Mark’s win the audience, along with Vanna White, erupts into cheer. Mark celebrates his big-money win as Pat reveals the total amount he has won.
