Sarah Manchester, a middle school math teacher and a resident of Silver Spring, Maryland, has become only the third person in the history of the popular game show “ Wheel of Fortune ‘ to win the jackpot of $1 million. On the episode of the Wheel of Fortune that aired on September 17, the mother of two managed to beat all odds and picked up the envelope containing the $1,000,000 note, and then answered a puzzle within the stipulated 10 seconds.
While no one knew what envelope was picked up by Sarah before she attempted to solve the puzzle, it was heartening to see her confidence levels. Wheel of Fortune host Pat Sajak gave her a 12-letter, two word puzzle to solve. The 12 letter word was described as a “thing” and remarkably, Sarah was able to decode the words in less than 10 seconds. The word was correctly guessed by her to be ‘Loud Laughter’ – and Sarah had chosen D,G,H and O as the four letters that she thought the word could contain. Once these four letters were placed, the answer became relatively easier to guess – and she did get it right.
The best part was however yet to come. Following the correct answer, Pat Sajak went ahead and opened the envelope that that Sarah picked up. The reaction on Sarah’s face when Pat told her about she hitting the jackpot is a must watch!
Sarah Manchester was on the Wheel of Fortune as part of the Teacher’s week celebration that kick started the 32 nd season of the game show. She told People magazine that she has grown up watching Wheel of Fortune with her parents and that she does the same now with her children with whom she even competes. In fact, Sarah even rewards her kids with cash prizes for every puzzle they solve before she does. She was asked by host Pat Sajak if she did use any of her expertise at math to solve the puzzles – to which she replied, “I assessed that the probability was low, but even unlikely events sometimes happen.”
In the past, the $1,000,000 top prize on the Wheel of Fortune has been awarded only three times. The first person to win it was Michelle Loewenstein who managed to do it on the episode that aired October 14, 2008. In May 2013, Autumn Erhard became the second person to win the top prize and now, just a year later, we have Sarah Manchester winning the grand prize.
Did you watch this episode of the Wheel of Fortune ?
[Image Via YouTube]