‘Wheel of Fortune’ heartbreak: Contestant misses out on $1-million prize

Vivian Tran was conscionable a fewer letters distant from winning $1 cardinal connected Wheel of Fortune, but nerves got betwixt her and the immense jackpot.

Tran, a rival connected the crippled show’s Sept. 16 episode, had secured a spot successful the Bonus Round aft landing connected the “One Million” wedge during the last circular of regular gameplay.

The Bonus Round asked her to lick the class “What Are You Doing?” In summation to the default letters fixed to each players (R, S, T, L, N, E), Tran selected C, H, M, I and P.

“My bosom is racing, this is simply a archetypal for me,” big Ryan Seacrest, who took implicit for Pat Sajak pursuing his retirement, said of the tense moment. “You’re playing for $1 million.”

Co-host Vanna White revealed the letters Tran had asked for, leaving “_ _ _ E R I N G S _ M E HELP” arsenic the last puzzle prompt.

Before she began to guess, Tran said she was “nervous.”

“Wondering immoderate help? Answering immoderate help? Finding immoderate help? Looking astir for immoderate help? Boundary for help?” she said successful the 10-second guessing window, her thought process connected display.

Unfortunately, she ne'er got to the close reply of “Offering Some Help” and folded implicit erstwhile Seacrest opened the envelope to uncover she mislaid retired connected the $1-million prize.

“You were truthful adjacent to that cardinal dollars. You astir had it,” Seacrest sympathized. “Are you each right?”

“I’m OK,” she reassured him portion successful the throes of processing the moment.

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She did, however, locomotion distant with a bully chunk of alteration — $27,300 — and a travel to Europe.

“It turned retired great,” she told Wheel of Fortune‘s societal analogous Maggie Sajak aft the show. “A small spot painful, but I’m grateful for the opportunity.”

“(Seacrest) benignant of brought maine into a country and he’s like, ‘Vivian, I don’t cognize if you privation to spot this,'” Vivian recalled of the infinitesimal she lost. “I knew the past 2 words but the archetypal one, I conscionable couldn’t get the syllables. It was 10 seconds, truthful by the clip I got to the eighth second, I missed it.”