Wheel of Fortune fans were in for a treat Tuesday evening. Contestant Christina Derevjanik of Stamford, Conn., became the show’s biggest winner ever, walking away with $1,035,155. She is just the fourth contestant to win the $1 million prize and the first under host Ryan Seacrest’s tenure.
Derevjanik won trips to Montana and Tokyo during the initial game and more than $35,000 in cash. Then, in the bonus round, she chose the category living things and solved the puzzle with the answer “Pack of coyotes” to win. Seacrest revealed the prize envelope showing the $1 million prize, and the crowd went wild as confetti fell and Derevjanik hugged Seacrest and Vanna White.
The marketing professional and avid runner spoke with Channel 11 on Wednesday morning.
“It was just so surreal. I mean, I really couldn’t have dreamt up anything better than what that show actually gave me,” she said. “I had played Wheel of Fortune on my little game handheld device from a young age, and I have always watched the show, so I knew that I was good at solving puzzles, but you never know how it’s actually going to happen.”
Derevjanik does not have any plans to leave her job. Her boss actually made the trip to Los Angeles with her, and the two joked about her winning the million.
“It was really a running joke that we had because she came out with me to the actual viewing,” she said. “We kind of said on our journey out there, ‘if you win a million dollars, are you going to come back to the office next week?’ I was like ‘I don’t know about that.’”
Derevjanik said it is finally starting to sink in that she is a millionaire.
“It was just pure shock. I am going to continue working, but I am so happy that now I have this nice investment for my future, hopefully buy a house in the next couple of years, I have a couple great trips that I won from the show as well, so I have those to look forward to.”
She is looking forward to traveling to Iceland one day and also taking advantage of the two trips she won on the show.
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