<\/p>\n
A Wheel of Fortune<\/em><\/a> contestant could have made history on Thursday\u2019s (October 23) episode by becoming the first male contestant to win the $1 million prize.<\/a> Unfortunately, it wasn\u2019t meant to be.<\/p>\n The contestant in question was Michael Williamson, a bike rider from Southaven, Missouri, who cycles 100 miles a week. He was up against music buff Greg Roth from Denver, Colorado, and Ann Marie Fix, a retired elementary school teacher from West Sayville, New York.<\/p>\n Things started slowly for Williamson after Roth and Fix beat him to the punch, solving the first two puzzles of the night. However, he took a slight lead in the Mystery Round by figuring out the Before and After puzzle. Then he cemented his first position by nailing the Express Round puzzle, increasing his winnings to $19,740, plus a cruise around Alpine Europe.<\/p>\n The Express Round also saw Williamson land on the Million Dollar Wedge, meaning if he could hold onto it throughout the game, he\u2019d be able to take it through to the Bonus Round and have a chance of walking away with the rarely won $1 million.<\/p>\n Williamson did just that, answering another puzzle in the Triple Toss-Up and then solving the final Speed-Up puzzle, giving him an episode-winning total of $28,340. And even better, he still had the Million Dollar Wedge in play heading into the Bonus Round.<\/p>\n As of October 2025, only four contestants have won the $1 million prize on the regular version of the show, all of them women. This includes Michelle Loewenstein, Autumn Erhard, Sarah Manchester, and, most recently, Christina Derevjanik, who walked away with $1,035,155 earlier this month<\/a>. In addition, Melissa Joan Hart<\/a> won the million on Celebrity Wheel of Fortune<\/em><\/a> in 2021.<\/p>\n After selecting the Phrase category, Williamson picked the additional letters \u201cD, H, W, and A\u201d to go with the already given \u201cR, S, T, L, N, and E.\u201d Sadly, these turned out to be poor picks, as only one of those letters appeared in the puzzle. This left him with a three-word puzzle that read: \u201c_ T \/ _ _ _ _ L E D \/ _ _ T.\u201d<\/p>\n Williamson quickly worked out the first and last words as \u201cIt\u201d and \u201cOut,\u201d but he couldn\u2019t figure out the middle word, guessing \u201csettled,\u201d \u201cworked,\u201d \u201cpanned,\u201d and \u201chandled.\u201d<\/p>\n As the timer ran out, Vanna White<\/a> revealed the correct answer as \u201cIt Fizzled Out.\u201d<\/p>\n