Woman Beats Amazing Odds to Win $1 Million on Wheel of Fortune
A California woman beat increasingly impressive odds to take home an actual fortune on last night's episode of Wheel of Fortune.
"I am in complete and utter shock," said Autumn Erhard shortly after becoming only the second person in the show's history to win 1 million dollars.
To put the difficulty of winning the grand prize in perspective, this is what a player must do to even have a shot:
* Land on the Million Dollar wedge during the game (there are 24 wedges on the wheel that get replaced every round, and each player spins the wheel about 24 times throughout the game).
* Be the one who solves the puzzle after picking up the wedge.
* Never land on the BANKRUPT wedge thereafter.
* Win the game, obviously (the wedge is meaningless without the win).
* Land on the Million Dollar wedge again during the Bonus Round (there are 24 wedge slots on the bonus wheel).
* Solve the Bonus Round puzzle in under 10 seconds.
As simple enough as all that sounds, Erhard came very close to blowing it when she only managed to identify three letters out of twelve in the final puzzle.
Amazingly, she was able to solve it in just two seconds.
"No one could believe it! They were just off stage and couldn't see what my prize was," Erhard told ABC 33/40. "They were celebrating the fact that I solved the puzzle."
In fairness, luck may have played a part in Erhard's success: She had just turned 30 and was playing during the show's 30th anniversary week.
Oh, and the episode aired on May 30th.