Wheel of Misfortune: Boynton woman in good spirits after vowel slip-up costs her Hawaii trip

Boynton Beach resident Kim Weisenberg had grand visions going into her once-in-a-lifetime shot on the television game show "Wheel of Fortune."

Spinning the wheel and landing on that coveted million-dollar wedge, solving puzzles and winning big to help her parents pay off debt, pay off her own student loans and take her family on vacation were all part of the dream scenario.

It didn't exactly work out that way and although she ended up with one of the more heartbreaking moments in the show's history, she did win a chunk of money, a trip and wound up with a lifetime of great memories.

'Wheel of Fortune' contestant from Boynton Beach started strong, then stumbled

Weisenberg, who is a yoga instructor, started out on fire, winning a total of $12,000 in cash and prizes —$4,000 for solving two puzzles including a “Toss Up” — and a trip to San Antonio, Texas, valued at $8,000.

Then came the fifth puzzle, which was a prize puzzle with a category of "Place." Weisenberg was in great position to strike it big after accumulating $17,550 in wheel spins. Her first guess alone earned her a whopping $14,000 by landing on the $3,500 wedge and correctly guessing four T's.

After several successful turns, only three letters were missing with the puzzle reading THE ENTRANCE T_ A CA_T_E.

This is when things took a surprising twist for Weisenberg. She wasn't sure what the last word was, but she figured the first four words were "THE ENTRANCE TO A" so she decided to buy a vowel, specifically an "O" to help solve the puzzle.

"I would either see that there was still another vowel, or I would see that there were no more vowels,” she said of her strategy.

The only problem: her brain thought the letter "O" and what came out of her mouth was the letter "U."

Silence. Then the dreaded buzzer and a gasp from the crowd.

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The camera then panned to Chicago public school instructional coach Takyra Garner, who was the contestant next to Weisenberg. Host Pat Sajak told Garner she could solve the puzzle if she wanted.

"The entrance to a castle," Garner said, winning a trip to Hawaii worth $8,299 along with $11,000 in her earnings.

"Yeah, that's it!" Sajak responded.

But Sajak wanted to take a moment to console Weisenberg.

"I know the game can be brutal sometimes," the host said to Weisenberg. "Sometimes you have a word that just doesn't want to come into focus. Don't beat yourself up."

Weisenberg said she had applied her yoga breathing and mindfulness techniques to stay calm and help fellow contestants do the same. However, that all went out the window when she had her costly hiccup.

“I intended to say ‘O’ and somehow ‘U’ slipped out," she explained. "I literally fell over. You don’t see that on the show, but I fell over. If I had said ‘O,’ I would have gotten it.

"You have to make a decision so fast, or they move on from your turn. When you’re up there, it’s so different than playing on your couch. There were a million things going on in my mind. I tried to focus so hard. That word ‘castle’ wouldn’t come to me.”

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Boynton Beach mon of two prepped by playing hangman with her kids

Weisenberg, who is married with two boys Everett, 10, and Finley, 5, said she grew up watching "Wheel of Fortune" and "Jeopardy."

“I have always been a fan since I was a little girl," she said. "I wanted to be Vanna White growing up. There was a contest where they had people try out to be Vanna and they did a show to be her. I didn’t get selected for that, but when I got to be a contestant, I felt like I was a bottle of champagne that was shaken up. I was so excited.”

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Weisenberg said Everett spotted her knack at solving puzzles and encouraged her to apply four years ago. It wasn’t until last July that she heard back from producers and went through the casting process. To prepare, she played a lot of puzzles in her spare time.

“I have those old-school variety puzzle games. I play 'Hangman' when I’m out to dinner with my kids and we need to keep them entertained and off technology,” she said. “There’s a 'Wheel of Fortune' app that I play. I am in a book club. I do audio, so I don’t see the actual word, but I hear it, so I’m wondering if that helped a little bit too.”

'Wheel of Fortune' host Pat Sajak had nice words during commercial break

Weisenberg filmed her episode on Feb. 22, just in time to appear on one of longtime host Pat Sajack’s last episodes before he retires. After 41 years, Sajak, 77, will take his final bow on the June 7 episode and will be replaced by Ryan Seacrest next season. Vanna White renewed her contract as the letter flipper through the 2025-2026 season.

“I adore (Pat). I think he’s the sweetest guy. Even on that puzzle that I messed up on, he was like, ‘Don’t beat yourself up.’

"Afterward, during a commercial break, he was like, ‘It happens to everybody. Don’t worry about it,’ ” she said. “He seems like the nicest person, the classic game show host. I couldn’t be more grateful to have both of them be the hosts when I was there. (Vanna) is as American as apple pie.”

Weisenberg’s dad accompanied her on her first trip to California when she flew out to Los Angeles to film "Wheel." During their brief visit, they squeezed in some sightseeing. The daddy-daughter duo shared on Instagram their trip to the Santa Monica Pier, a long walk to Venice and back and a drive up the Pacific Coast Highway to the oceanfront seafood restaurant Duke’s in Malibu where she enjoyed watching the waves crash on rocks and sunset during dinner.