STAMFORD, Conn. (WTNH) — A Connecticut woman set a record on “Wheel of Fortune” by winning $1,035,115, making her the biggest winner in the show’s history.
Christina Derevjanik was already enjoying a successful run on Tuesday night’s episode, securing $35,115 in cash and prizes, which included trips to Montana and Tokyo, as well as capturing the million-dollar wedge earlier in the game.
In the bonus round, Derevjanik hinted at a possible job resignation — while her boss watched from the studio audience — by saying she “may be putting in my two weeks” if she won the grand prize. She opted for the category “Living Things” and immediately solved the puzzle when the clock started. (The answer was “PACK OF COTOYES.”)
A segment from Tuesday’s show displays “Wheel of Fortune” host Ryan Seacrest revealing her $1 million winnings from the envelope, prompting Derevjanik to scream and embrace Seacrest.
After the episode was filmed, Seacrest told Derevjanik she was officially the biggest winner in the show’s history.
“I have no words,” she responded, according to a press release from Sony Pictures Entertainment.
In the show’s history, only four contestants (with one being a celebrity) have taken home million-dollar prizes in the game’s bonus rounds. These occasions all followed the introduction of the $1 million “wedge” to the wheel. Contestants need to acquire this wedge during the game, which then offers a chance to win the amount in the bonus round.
The inaugural prize of this kind was awarded to Michelle Loewenstein in 2008 — the very season the $1 million “wedge” was introduced. Loewenstein, then aged 24, successfully solved the bonus puzzle and left with a total of $1,026,080 in cash and prizes.
Five years later in 2013, Autumn Erhard won the second $1 million prize after solving an especially challenging bonus puzzle. Together with her winnings from earlier in the show, Erhard took home $1,030,340 in cash and prizes — the most ever awarded to a single contestant on “Wheel of Fortune” at the time, according to an official ranking previously shared with Nexstar by Sony Pictures Entertainment.
A teacher named Sarah Manchester then became the third winner of the $1 million prize in 2014 after racking up $17,490 during earlier gameplay.
But perhaps most memorable winner of the $1 million prize — before Tuesday’s episode, at least — was “Sabrina the Teenage Witch” and “Clarissa Explains It All” actress Melissa Joan Hart, who appeared on an episode of “Celebrity Wheel of Fortune” in 2021. Hart made it to the final round with a million-dollar wedge and correctly solved the bonus puzzle, winning a total of $1,027,800 for the Youth Villages charity.
