Wheel of Fortune is one of those game shows that sucks you right in and makes you want to play along. Solve the puzzle for a phrase involving a few Rs, Ts and Es? Sure. Solve for a movie quote with an N, P, and D? Sounds good.
Obviously, the more letters on the board means the easier it is to solve. When a puzzle just has a few letters, it can make it near impossible to solve. So when a contestant does win big on a puzzle like this, it can be completely shocking.
Case in point: Emil De Leon, a 25-year-old of Daly City, CA, who correctly guessed a bonus round with just N and E on a 12-letter phrase. Th moment, which occurred in 2014, was so incredible that host Pat Sajak called on Twitter “the most amazing solve in my 30+ years on the show.”
So how did he manage to pull it off? Seemingly nothing more than being an avid fan of the show.
“I have been watching Wheel of Fortune since I can remember. My parents would just sit me in front of the TV to watch it so I’ve been prepping my whole life. The first letters I ever learned were R, S, T, L, N, E, which are the main letters in Wheel of Fortune,” he said.
“I am not very good at talking, I am such an introvert. I stutter a lot, but when it came to the puzzle I was in the zone and it got rid of my stutter,” he added.
The rest of his thoughts on the puzzle landed sort of by chance. “The first word was easy as there is pretty much nothing that can go there except ‘new’. Then I just kept on working with the second word — I used a used letter board, the first letter there was B, so I worked off that. New Baby just sounds right — it flows,” he explained.
Additionally, De Leon had just studied pediatrics when taking his nursing exams, saying that after that he “babies on my mind” and “I just thought, ‘What do you find with a new baby?’
De Leon won a whopping $63,099 in cash and prizes after his big win. “I am living the dream right now and have no regrets,” he said.
De Leon was just as shocked as everyone else—especially Sajak—when he solved for the correct answer. See how it all went down in the video below!
Did you have any guesses before De Leon took home the gold? What are some other unforgettable Wheel of Fortune moments?
