{"id":2062886,"date":"2025-10-01T20:34:23","date_gmt":"2025-10-01T20:34:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2062886"},"modified":"2025-10-01T20:34:23","modified_gmt":"2025-10-01T20:34:23","slug":"wheel-of-fortune-winner-kept-1m-prize-secret-from-new-boyfriend-for-months-he-had-no-idea","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wheel-of-fortune-winner-kept-1m-prize-secret-from-new-boyfriend-for-months-he-had-no-idea\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8216;Wheel of Fortune&#8217; winner kept $1M prize secret from new boyfriend for months: &#8216;He had no idea&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content%2Fuploads%2Fsites%2F2%2F2025%2F10%2F112586496-1.jpg?quality%3D90%26strip%3Dall\" \/><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>She\u2019s \u201cWheel\u201d-y good at keeping secrets. <\/p>\n<p>A Connecticut woman who <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2025\/10\/01\/entertainment\/connecticut-wheel-of-fortune-player-christina-derevjanik-wins-historic-1-035m-in-front-of-her-boss\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">won a record-breaking $1,035,155 on Tuesday night\u2019s \u201cWheel of Fortune\u201d<\/a> concealed the life-changing news from her boyfriend for four long months. <\/p>\n<p>Contestant Christina Derevjanik, 34, filmed her historic appearance on the game show back in May and was sworn to secrecy until the episode aired this week. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe had no idea,\u201d the marketing manager told The Post on Wednesday, revealing that she had only started dating her beau just weeks before her win. <\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>Christina Derevjanik, 34, won a whopping  $1,035,155 on Tuesday\u2019s \u201cWheel of Fortune.\u201d <span class=\"credit\">Chris Willard\/CBS<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>On Tuesday night, Derevjanik held a viewing party in Stamford, but her boyfriend was in Boston. He tuned in to watch her appearance, not expecting to see his new partner pocket a pretty penny. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe called me [after the show aired] and was just so excited,\u201d the cashed-up contestant gushed. \u201cHe is absolutely thrilled for me.\u201d<\/p>\n<aside class=\"single__inline-module alignleft\">\n\t<\/aside>\n<p>Admitting that she\u2019s hit the jackpot with both love and money, the newly minted millennial conceded that she\u2019s had an excellent few months. <\/p>\n<p>In addition to the prize money, Derevjanik also won trips to Montana and Tokyo \u2014 and plans to take her new man along on at least one of those adventures. <\/p>\n<p>The winner was also unable to tell her family and friends about the news until the show aired, although she admitted that her parents \u201cdefinitely saw a little pep in my step.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>No wonder: After taxes, the marketing manager is expected to bank about $660,000.<\/p>\n<p>Derevjanik has the option to receive her prize money in installments or a lump sum, but told The Post she\u2019s leaning toward the latter to quickly pay off her student loans and buy her first home.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>The longtime \u201cWheel of Fortune\u201d fan is pictured with hosts Vanna White and Ryan Seacrest.  <span class=\"credit\">Chris Willard\/CBS<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t know when I would\u2019ve been able to afford a home, so these winnings are just completely life-changing for me,\u201d she enthused. \u201cI\u2019m really excited about what the future holds now that I have this financial freedom.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>As for any indulgences, the sensible Stamford resident won\u2019t be splashing cash on designer clothes or a flashy car \u2014 but she <em>will<\/em> be pampering her pet pooch. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think I\u2019m going to have to spoil my dog, Hazel,\u201d Derevjanik laughed. \u201cShe\u2019s going to be a lucky little chocolate lab over the next year.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>Derevjanik won\u2019t be giving up her day job. The Stamford-based marketing manager will continue commuting to her Manhattan office for work.  <span class=\"credit\">Instagram\/christinad_solvingabc<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Derevjanik won her \u201cWheel of Fortune\u201d prize in front of her boss, who jetted to Los Angeles with her for the taping.<\/p>\n<p>On camera, Derevjanik joked she would put in her two weeks\u2019 notice after receiving the prize, but she told The Post that she\u2019ll continue to commute to her office in Manhattan. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m not quitting the job,\u201d she clarified. \u201cMy boss is very happy. I will be continuing to work for her, and I was just so excited that she was able to be part of the experience.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The prize-winner is a longtime \u201cWheel of Fortune\u201d fan, saying: \u201cI\u2019ve been watching since I was young, and I had one of the \u2018Wheel of Fortune\u2019 handheld games that I would always play as a child in the \u201990s.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>Derevjanik is pictured with her handheld \u201cWheel of Fortune\u201d game, which she played back in the 1990s. <span class=\"credit\">Instagram\/christinad_solvingabc<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Her time on set, whilst \u201csurreal,\u201d lived up to every expectation. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cEveryone who works on the show, and [hosts] Ryan [Seacrest] and Vanna [White], were just such a pleasure,\u201d Derevjanik declared. \u201cThey were so wonderful, and they really shared in my excitement, so it was just such a great experience.<\/p>\n<p>Derevjanik, who secured the \u201cOne Million Dollars\u201d wedge early in the show, earned $35,155 in cash and the trips to Montana and Japan before she advanced to the bonus round.<\/p>\n<p>She picked the \u201cLiving Things\u201d category, correctly solved the puzzle with the phrase \u201cPACK OF COYOTES\u201d \u2014 and Seacrest showed her the $1 million envelope.<\/p>\n<p>Only four other contestants have ever won more than $1 million since the prized wedge was introduced to the franchise in 2008,\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.tvinsider.com\/gallery\/wheel-of-fortune-every-million-dollar-puzzle-winners-losers\/#10\">according to TV Insider.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Contestant Michelle Loewenstein was the first to win it in October 2008 for $1.026 million, followed by Autumn Erhard in 2013, nabbing $1.03 million; and Sarah Manchester in 2014, $1.017 million. <\/p>\n<p>In addition, \u201cCelebrity Wheel of Fortune\u201d contestant Melissa Joan Hart won $1 million in 2021.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><em> \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em> \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source celebrity.land \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>She\u2019s \u201cWheel\u201d-y good at keeping secrets. A Connecticut woman who won a record-breaking $1,035,155 on Tuesday night\u2019s \u201cWheel of Fortune\u201d concealed the life-changing news from her boyfriend for four long months. Contestant Christina Derevjanik, 34, filmed her historic appearance on the game show back in May and was sworn to secrecy until the episode aired [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2062887,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25174],"tags":[25404,348458,306918,21818,25879,21913,39864],"class_list":["post-2062886","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gossip","tag-exclusive","tag-game-shows","tag-human-interest","tag-lifestyle","tag-metro","tag-tv","tag-wheel-of-fortune"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Wheel-of-Fortune-winner-kept-1M-prize-secret-from-new.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2062886","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2062886"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2062886\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2062888,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2062886\/revisions\/2062888"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2062887"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2062886"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2062886"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2062886"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}