Michelle Loewenstein Wins $1,000,000 on “Wheel of Fortune”

15 Oct

Posted by Alex Davis as BuzzerVision, Spoilers, Syndication, Wheel of Fortune

Flash

If you follow this site or basically any game show website (hell, even a lot of television news sites had this), you knew it was coming. However, it was still a pretty big moment in syndication and Wheel of Fortune history. In just a few weeks since adding the $1,000,000 end game, 24-year-old Michelle Loewenstein became the first millionaire in Wheel of Fortune history. She landed on the Million Dollar Wedge on the first spin; a 1:72 chance, called a letter, and claimed it. She managed not to hit a bankrupt the entire game. Next, Loewenstein landed on the $1,000,000 envelope in the end game wheel, a 1:24 chance, and solved the puzzle to make Wheel of Fortune history. Below is a video, courtesy of Sony Pictures. Congratulations, Michelle.

19 Responses

myke25
1
October 15th, 2008 at 9:42 am

This episode was pre-empted in Indianapolis by a Gubernatorial Debate.
DOH!
Rodney Flippen
2
October 15th, 2008 at 9:54 am

Congratualation Michelle of being the first Millionaire on Wheel of Fortune.
dropzone5
3
October 15th, 2008 at 10:17 am

Of course all the good stuff happens when I can’t watch it that particular day… *grumble*

In any event, congratulations, Michelle.
lobster
4
October 15th, 2008 at 12:40 pm

Ya that was cool stuff — I only wish Pat was a little more dramatic in his reveal or pull a move like Bob Barker where he would break the contestants’ balls by interrupting the excitement to ask them some random question .. but I know they only have limited time to mess around.

Now that it’s happened, though, they should totally make that a progressive jackpot if they want to hype ratings in the future :D
dropzone5
5
October 15th, 2008 at 1:03 pm

To “Quit yer whinin!”:

I wasn’t complaining because of the debate; I was out of the house by the time it aired.

Just so we’re clear.
Dayton Guy
6
October 15th, 2008 at 2:00 pm

That was really exciting. Wheel is Fortune is now available in HD in Dayton so that also made it just that much better.
Mark Baker-Wright
7
October 15th, 2008 at 2:40 pm

That “1:72 chance” bit needs context. That’s the odds of landing on the Million Dollar Wedge on ANY given spin. She had several spins in that first round alone, not to mention the rest of the game. (And the Wedge stays in place for the first THREE rounds so long as it’s not picked up.)

She STILL beat some fairly heavy odds, though. Won the round in which she landed on the wedge. Never hit bankrupt. Earned enough to win the game. Hit the 1:24 chance on the bonus round spin. I don’t want to deny that at all. I talked about these odds a fair bit back when the rules were first announced: http://transformingseminarian.blogspot.com/2008/09/truth-in-advertising-wheel-of-fortune.html

I’m VERY surprised this win came so quickly.
Marc Power
8
October 15th, 2008 at 6:46 pm

yeah, but Mark she hit the $1m on the first spin of the game.

although, for me some of the excitement was gone becuase I already knew what was going to happen. I give her credit that $1m is horribly tough to win.
Ken C.
9
October 16th, 2008 at 1:18 am

You have to admit it is hard to win the million on Wheel

-Land on the million wedge on the wheel (1:72)
-solve the puzzle to claim it
-don’t get any bankrupts
-win the front game
and STILL have to beat 1:24 odds to land on the Million card/envelope

and Michelle did it on the 1st spin!

Spoil or No Spoil (JAB! SLAM! HA HA!!) , that is insane!

No wonder Pat was so dumbfounded. He was pretty much blindsided by everything.

Congratulations to Michelle! (A trip to Vegas may be in order.)

On a side note, Mad Love to Wheel for Canada Week and mentioning the relocation to CBC! (Warming the heart of this Torontoian!)
Jared Oswald
10
October 16th, 2008 at 1:50 am

Even my Sister and I knew she was going to win. Congrats on being the newest Millionaire Michele.
In The Biz
11
October 16th, 2008 at 2:56 am

The weekend edition is going to be an encore of Tuesday’s show.
CAROLINE CURRY
12
October 16th, 2008 at 5:19 am

SAD
insaneben
13
October 16th, 2008 at 12:57 pm

My goodness.
It looks like this year’s been all about the women.
We’ve had female contestants break the bank on the TPIR MDS (and, recently, a DSW), 1 vs. 100 (I know it was only $500K and somewhat anti-climatic, but still noteworthy), DOND, Catch 21, and Duel (if you’re willing to stretch back to December of last year). Now, we can add Michelle Loewenstein’s name to the illustrious list of big winners.
Spoiler or not, it was still entertaining to watch (thanks to the power of YouTube).
Douglas Crawshaw Jr.
14
October 16th, 2008 at 7:31 pm

Here’s what I figured out, with only luck as a factor:

P(Hitting the $1,000,000 Wedge on the 1st spin) = approx. 1.39%
P(Spinning Approx. 30 times (15 with 1 Bankrupt, 15 with 2 Bankrupts) without hitting Bankrupt) = approx. 14.3%
P(Hitting the $1,000,000 Card) = approx. 4.2%

If it’s all rounded up, there is a .008% chance of all this happening, or 12,499:1

Compare that to the chances of getting 3 Jokers on any spin on The Joker’s Wild, assuming 5 categories and 3 Jokers on each reel, which is nearly 18:1. In ten spins, that’s about 32.3:1, not nearly as rare as what happened here.

I’ve heard Einstein say that God does not play dice with the universe. God may not play dice with the universe, but He sure does astound us with rare events like this!
Alex
15
October 18th, 2008 at 7:36 pm

This episode marked the first time in quite a while that I got excited over a huge win. I was almost biting my nails during the episode; I didn’t think Michelle would make it. But she did, and she survived nearly impossible odds to win the big prize!

If you’ll remember, when they introduced the $100,000 prize back in 2001, we thought it would be impossible to get, and someone won it less than a month after its debut! Coincidence? ;)

Michelle, if you’re reading this, congratulations, and don’t spend it all in one place! ^^
Mark Baker-Wright
16
October 18th, 2008 at 9:16 pm

“yeah, but Mark she hit the $1m on the first spin of the game.”

Impressive, but irrelevant. She didn’t have to land on it first spin to have won the big prize. So that 1:72 statistic is misleading.

Re: this bit:
“Here’s what I figured out, with only luck as a factor:

P(Hitting the $1,000,000 Wedge on the 1st spin) = approx. 1.39%
P(Spinning Approx. 30 times (15 with 1 Bankrupt, 15 with 2 Bankrupts) without hitting Bankrupt) = approx. 14.3%
P(Hitting the $1,000,000 Card) = approx. 4.2%

If it’s all rounded up, there is a .008% chance of all this happening, or 12,499:1″

Again, let’s be clear. These are the odds of doing what Michelle actually did, but not the actual odds of winning the million. However, if we WERE to work from the odds of hitting the Million wedge on any spin in any of the first three rounds, while the odds would be increased pretty dramatically, the whole thing would still be a pretty long shot. Michelle deserves congratulations regardless.
Mace
17
October 19th, 2008 at 6:57 pm

I know they edited these shows, but did anyone catch on the answer “Toronto’s Spectacular Skyline” that the “u” showed up without anyone calling it? It just seemed weird. A lot of luck going into this win.
Bobby
18
October 20th, 2008 at 11:58 pm

I didn’t catch that U showing up strangely. I taped it (first time in ages that I’ve taped a game show). I know I’ve seen them edit out at least one vowel before.
devares
19
October 23rd, 2008 at 2:32 pm

It was the hugest moment in Wheel’s long history. Too bad I, like dropzone5 and mark25, missed it (I was at work and, like an idiot, forgot to TiVo it). But, anyway, many congrats to Michelle for the Million Dollar win.