‘Wheel of Fortune’ Just Had Its Biggest Winner Ever

A Wheel of Fortune winner has taken home the biggest prize in the show’s history.

On the Tuesday, Sept. 30 episode of the 43rd season, Christina Derevjanik from Stamford, Conn. won a cash prize of $1,035,155. 

Derevjanik is the fourth Wheel of Fortune contestant who has earned the million-dollar grand prize — and the first since Ryan Seacrest became host.

The Connecticut woman scored the prize after winning trips to Montana and Tokyo and accumulating $35,155 in cash and prizes. She then made it to the bonus round and selected the “Living Things” category.

She successfully solved the puzzle that read: “PACK OF COYOTES.”

Seacrest, 50, opened the prize envelope and shared that Derevjanik won the million-dollar prize. Vanna White headed over to Derevjanik after her win was revealed and exclaimed, “I’m so happy for you!” 

Seacrest also remarked on the record-breaking victory, saying, “Congratulations, you’re my first million-dollar winner. I have a tear in my eye.”

After the episode, Seacrest told Derevjanik that she was now the biggest winner in the show’s history. Derevjanik confessed that she was really eager to win, telling the production, “I was trying to manifest this. I was hoping for confetti, but I never thought it would actually happen.”

The show’s one-million-dollar grand prize wedge was added for the 26th season in 2008. To win, the contestant must land on the wedge, solve the puzzle and make it to the Bonus Round without going bankrupt. 

Over the course of Wheel of Fortune‘s history, only four players, including Derevjanik, have been able to win the $1 million prize.

The first came the same year the wedge was introduced, with Michelle Loewenstein winning in 2008, then Autumn Erhard in 2013 and Sarah Manchester the following year. Sabrina the Teenage Witch alum Melissa Joan Hart was the first million-dollar winner on Celebrity Wheel of Fortune in 2021.

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Wheel of Fortune airs weeknights (check local listings). New episodes of Wheel of Fortune will stream on Peacock, Hulu and Disney+ the next day.