It was the moment that could’ve changed everything — just one letter away from a $1 million Wheel of Fortune miracle. As the studio held its breath, the contestant’s voice trembled, the wrong guess slipped out, and the dream of history vanished in seconds. What happened next left Pat Sajak speechless, Vanna frozen, and millions of viewers screaming at their TVs.

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What To Know

Michael Williamson, a contestant on Wheel of Fortune, advanced to the Bonus Round with the rare Million Dollar Wedge.
He had the chance to become the first male contestant to win the $1 million prize.
Only four contestants have won the $1 million prize on the regular syndicated show.

A Wheel of Fortune contestant could have made history on Thursday’s (October 23) episode by becoming the first male contestant to win the $1 million prize. Unfortunately, it wasn’t meant to be.

The contestant in question was Michael Williamson, a bike rider from Southaven, Missouri, who cycles 100 miles a week. He was up against music buff Greg Roth from Denver, Colorado, and Ann Marie Fix, a retired elementary school teacher from West Sayville, New York.

Things started slowly for Williamson after Roth and Fix beat him to the punch, solving the first two puzzles of the night. However, he took a slight lead in the Mystery Round by figuring out the Before and After puzzle. Then he cemented his first position by nailing the Express Round puzzle, increasing his winnings to $19,740, plus a cruise around Alpine Europe.

The Express Round also saw Williamson land on the Million Dollar Wedge, meaning if he could hold onto it throughout the game, he’d be able to take it through to the Bonus Round and have a chance of walking away with the rarely won $1 million.

Williamson did just that, answering another puzzle in the Triple Toss-Up and then solving the final Speed-Up puzzle, giving him an episode-winning total of $28,340. And even better, he still had the Million Dollar Wedge in play heading into the Bonus Round.

As of October 2025, only four contestants have won the $1 million prize on the regular version of the show, all of them women. This includes Michelle Loewenstein, Autumn Erhard, Sarah Manchester, and, most recently, Christina Derevjanik, who walked away with $1,035,155 earlier this month. In addition, Melissa Joan Hart won the million on Celebrity Wheel of Fortune in 2021.

After selecting the Phrase category, Williamson picked the additional letters “D, H, W, and A” to go with the already given “R, S, T, L, N, and E.” Sadly, these turned out to be poor picks, as only one of those letters appeared in the puzzle. This left him with a three-word puzzle that read: “_ T / _ _ _ _ L E D / _ _ T.”

Williamson quickly worked out the first and last words as “It” and “Out,” but he couldn’t figure out the middle word, guessing “settled,” “worked,” “panned,” and “handled.”

As the timer ran out, Vanna White revealed the correct answer as “It Fizzled Out.”

Host Ryan Seacrest then opened the prize envelope. Did Williamson lose out on the $1 million? Fortunately not. Unfortunately, however, he lost out on an extra $75,000.

Did you figure out this Bonus Puzzle? What did you think of Thursday’s episode? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.