Wheel of Fortune is often filled with exciting moments, as contestants can win life-changing money by solving a word puzzle in mere seconds.
There are also moments of heartbreaking disappointment, where the opposite happens, and contestants are left reeling from the losses.
On a recent episode of the popular game show, viewers saw a charming woman named Jesse win her way to the final round with a chance at a significant bonus prize.
Host Ryan Seacrest teased she could win up to $1 million. However, first, she’d need to spin the mini wheel and land on the $1M prize.
She’d then need to solve the final puzzle, and this one was a doozy for the recent contestant’s bonus prize.
Thankfully, it wasn’t entirely disappointing for the game show contestant, but fans at home expressed their thoughts about the loss.
Jesse played for an ‘exciting’ $1M prize on Wheel of Fortune
With her husband standing by on stage to watch the moment, Jesse got to spin. That was, of course, after Ryan teased the big moment in all sorts of ways to add to the anxiety of it all.
“This is very exciting. My heart is pounding,” the Wheel host announced and even breathed a sigh ahead of the big moments.
“Where will it land? A million dollars is out there on the wheel,” he said as the wheel was spinning.
After the wheel stopped on a wedge, Ryan grabbed the small prize card and walked Jesse over to where she’d attempt to solve the bonus round puzzle.
Jesse chose to solve a phrase, and she automatically received the R, S, L, N, T, and E. Vanna turned five of those letters up on the board for the phrase.
“Nice start,” Ryan told her before asking for three more consonants and another vowel.
She chose H, M, C, and O, which gave her just two more letters on the puzzle. From there, she had 10 seconds to try to guess or solve the puzzle.
As time moved away on-screen, Jesse seemed frozen in thought, unable to even offer any guesses at what the phrase might be.
She nervously looked over at the timer several times and simply shook her head as she watched the time run out without a guess.
“You needed more, huh?” Ryan asked before revealing the phrase was “Ahead of the Curve.”
“Oh gosh!” Jesse exclaimed as she put her hands on her head.
“Wasn’t the million!” Ryan said to lessen her disappointment, revealing that a $40,000 prize was at stake.
Jesse didn’t leave empty-handed, having previously tallied $16,400 during Wheel of Fortune. Ryan then revealed the $1 million envelope was on the mini-wheel’s “S” in the word “America’s.”
Fans reacted to that ‘tough’ final puzzle
The episode originally aired in October 2024 but was shown to viewers as a rerun in late June, and many who hadn’t seen the original were also rooting for a favorable outcome.
On the game show’s YouTube video, many fans expressed disappointment in the loss, specifically regarding the difficulty of that particular phrase.
“Sometimes you have to breathe with a sigh of relief when a puzzle ‘curveball’ comes at you, but it’s NOT worth $1 MILLION. Who would’ve even thought of that solution, I wonder?” one fan commented.
“I wouldn’t have gotten this one at all. I only got ‘of the curve’ but that was it. That, and I hardly ever hear that phrase,” a YouTube commenter said.
“curve is tough word…,” one commenter wrote.
“On one hand, the loss wasn’t satisfying. On the other hand, at least it wasn’t the million this time,” another comment said.
Earlier in the episode, Jesse won the Wild Card and Million Dollar wedge when she correctly solved one of the puzzles. She won a trip to Panama and $2,000 during the Triple Toss Up round. After guessing “Purple Petunias” for the final puzzle, she took the lead with her $16,400.
Wheel of Fortune Season 43 is TBA for fall 2025.
