Grandfather’s Mistake on ‘Wheel of Fortune’ Cost Him $1M

November 24, 2017 Last Updated: November 24, 2017

Pat Sajak and Vanna White (United States Marine Corps / Public Domain)

A grandfather, named Frank, very nearly won $1 million on “Wheel of Fortune”—but he came up short.

He was just three letters off from solving the final puzzle on the show. Then, host Pat Sajak opened up the card revealing that he would have won $1 million.

Frank took home $26,203 instead.

“Unbelievable,” Frank said.

Frank and his granddaughter appeared on the program, and they got the final puzzle in the “Food & Drink” category. The pair had five letters on the board before the countdown of 10 seconds ended.

He went with “fried zucchini” instead of “baked zucchini” for the final word.