‘Wheel of Fortune’ Player Has Dramatic $60,000 Win After Judges’ Controversial Ruling

A Wheel of Fortune player almost didn’t win the Bonus Round as his guess came down to the wire. This happened after a controversial ruling by the judges caused another contestant to lose a toss-up.

Serena Sahadeo, from Long Island, New York, who has a matching puzzle piece tattoo with her mom, played against Frank DiGangi, from Marlboro, New Jersey, and  Travis McGaney, from Los Angeles, California, on Wednesday, March 26.

Sahadeo guessed the first toss-up, “Giant Beach Towel,” earning $2,000. DiGangi guessed the second toss-up, “The Wild Robot,” adding $2,000 to his bank.

DiGangi, a collector of autographed items, guessed most of the letters for the first puzzle — “ShowBiz — earning $3,200, until he landed on Bankrupt. The turn moved to McGaney. He solved the puzzle — “My Favorite Movie Soundtrack” — and earned $17,598 and a trip to Finland.

In the Mystery Round puzzle “Before & After,” McGaney, a self-professed foreign language/geography nerd, racked up even more money until he guessed “B,” which wasn’t in the puzzle. The turn then moved to Sahadeo. She only guessed two letters until she landed on Bankrupt. DiGangi guessed “M,” but there wasn’t any, so it was McGaney’s turn. He landed on Bankrupt, quickly ending his turn. Sahadeo also landed on the dreaded wedge, so the turn moved to DiGangi again. McGaney solved the puzzle, “Deposit Slip of the Tongue,” earning another $1,000.

For the Prize Puzzle, DiGangi gained $3,100 before he landed on Lose a Turn. Sahadeo and McGaney both guessed incorrect letters. After picking two more letters, DiGangi solved it — “Drink with a Tiny Umbrella.” He won a trip to Curacao.

During the Triple Toss-up, DiGangi guessed the first one, “Financial Planner,” getting $2,000 more. For the second one, Sahadeo, a civil developer at a land development firm, buzzed in but it was unclear if she said “Economist” or “Economics” as her pronunciation was someplace in between the two words. The game was silent for a few seconds as host Ryan Seacrest asked the judges for their ruling. “Nope,” he said, and the round continued. McGaney buzzed in and said, “Economist,” earning $2,000. Sahadeo said, “Ooo,” before they moved on to the next one. However, she redeemed herself when she guessed the final one, “Professional Poker Player,” also putting $2,000 in her bank.

Reddit users thought that she should have been awarded the money even though her pronunciation was off. “Economist,” the original poster wrote. “I thought she pronounced the word correctly but just put emphasis on the wrong syllable. Is there a rule regarding weird but phonetically correct pronunciations?”

“Emphasizing the right syllable is part of pronouncing a word correctly,” another fan wrote.

“One of the rules of ‘Wheel of Fortune’ is when a contestant tries to solve a puzzle, they must pronounce it using the generally accepted pronunciation,” a spokesperson for the game show told TODAY,” a user told the original poster.

“Given the length of the delay, it seems like the judges weren’t really sure whether to allow it or not, but historically, proper pronunciation (or at least usage of a common pronunciation allowing for different dialects/accents) has been required on game shows,” added a third.

“Another WOF screw up,” said one fan.

“I don’t have DVR so I wasn’t able to go back and check, but I am 99% sure the woman in the Toss-Up round (I am also pretty unfamiliar with the terminology) correctly answered ‘economist’ but pronounced it like ‘economics,’ with the stress on the last syllable instead of the second, and they ruled against her. Did I just hear it wrong?” a different Reddit thread user wrote.

“I thought she said ‘economics,’ which is not the same word as ‘economist, ‘” a user said.

“She said Echo-nah-mist instead of Econo-mist, right?” asked a fan.

DiGangi guessed the final puzzle, “I Told You So,” adding $1,000 to his bank. He ended with $18,275 in cash and prizes. Sahadeo left with $3,000. McGaney won $20,598 in cash and prizes and advanced to the Bonus Round.

He chose “Phrase” for his Bonus Round. After Wheel gave him “R,S,T,L,N, and E,” he picked, “H,C,M, and O.” The puzzle then looked like “_O_N TO THE _ _RE.” “Down to the….,” McGaney repeated over again. At the last second, he said, “Down to the wire!”

“You got it!” Seacrest said enthusiastically.  “You did it! Down to the wire. Congratulations!”

“I literally got it down to the wire,” McGaney said.

McGaney added $40,000 to his winnings, taking home $60,598 and a trip to Finland.

“It was literally down to the wire!” one YouTube user said.

“Talk about a close call! Good job Travis,” said another.

“Wow, literally down to the wire. Congratulations!” wrote a third. 

“How perfect! Down to the wire. Way to go, Travis,” said a fan.