A man from Fairfax County, Virginia, won big on the “Wheel of Fortune” game show that aired earlier this week.
Mike Halpern won a vacation to Aruba and more than $120,000.
“I still can’t believe that actually happened,” Halpern said. “It feels like a dream to me.”
Halpern, from Chantilly, was staring at the board which only had the letters P, R, T, N, and S showing.
That was all the help he needed, and he was somehow able to correctly guess that the phrase was “parting ways.”
“I thought to myself ‘Well, this better be right because it’s all I got,'” Halpern said. “If it wasn’t ‘parting ways’ then I was in some deep water, but I was fortunate, and it just kind of clicked.”
After Halpern won, he started yelling and dancing. He even dropped all the way to the floor and made a snow angel in confetti that had fallen down around him.
“I ran around the stage like a maniac,” Halpern said. “I kind of blacked out because I was just couldn’t believe it. I was in complete disbelief.”
Host Pat Sajak joked about it.
“No one has ever done a snow angel in our confetti,” Sajak said as he clapped and celebrated Halpern’s win. “I was very impressed by that.”
Halpern filmed the show several weeks ago and had to keep quiet about his win. But he was able to let loose when the episode aired Monday as he watched the show at a party with friends and family.
Halpern said he hasn’t decided what he’ll do with the money yet.
“My wife and I haven’t really thought through it,” he said. “We’ll make donations to a couple charities that we have discussed, because you’ve got to spread the love.”
Halpern is also a father and a former baseball coach with the Chantilly Youth Association Little League.
