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Derevjanik won a total of $1,035,155, becoming only the fourth contestant ever to land the show’s $1 million grand prize.
Christina Derevjanik (NY Post/X)
A woman from Connecticut won the “Wheel of Fortune” on Tuesday night and took home more than $1 million in prizes.
In an interview on “Good Morning America”, Christina Derevjanik of Stamford, Connecticut, said that she was in “complete shock” when she won the life-changing amount of money.
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“As soon as the clock started, I just said [the answer] and for a second, I forgot about the million-dollar wedge. And then [host Ryan Seacrest] opened it, and I was like, ‘Oh, my goodness. This is real’,” Derevjanik recalled.
According to a report on ABC News, Derevjanik won a total of $1,035,155, becoming only the fourth contestant ever to land the show’s $1 million grand prize and the first since Ryan Seacrest took over as host.
During the course of the game, she collected $35,155 in cash and prizes, including trips to Montana and Tokyo, before advancing to the bonus round. She chose the category “Living Things” and correctly solved the puzzle, “PACK OF COYOTES.”
After winning the show, the show’s co-host Vanna White hugged her and said: “I am so happy for you! Congratulations, you’re my first million-dollar winner. I have a tear in my eye.”
After the success, Derevjanik, an employee at a utilities company, said: “The first thing that I am spending that on is getting rid of all my student loans. It’s something that, you know, the last 15 years I’ve been out of college, I’ve just been like, ‘How am I ever going to pay this off?’ And now, it is just going to be such a relief and then hopefully, invest in a home in the next couple of years.”
Previously, the prize has only been awarded three times before, including to Michelle Lowenstein in 2008, Autumn Erhard in 2013 and Sarah Manchester in 2014, ABC News reported.
United States of America (USA)
October 02, 2025, 01:56 IST
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