‘Wheel of Fortune’ spins $21,250 for PC student

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. — Providence College junior Tim Sears, 21, stacked up $14,750 in the first half of his appearance on “Wheel of Fortune,” which aired Thursday night, and he felt confident he could solve the puzzle that would win him a trip to Hawaii, but his spin landed on Bankrupt.

He had started strong, one spin earning him $3,500, the highest dollar amount, and another landing on Wild Card, which allowed him a guess without risk of a spin, and let him bank the same dollar amount as his last spin, $3,500.

Bankruptcy cost him only his chance at the trip, not any money, and in the second half, he kept spinning, building cash, guessing letters and occasionally solving puzzles in the show based on the child’s game Hangman.

He had the lead with more than $23,000 when host Pat Sajak said a miscalculation had occurred and they’d have to subtract a few thousand from his total to correct it. Still, he was far enough ahead of the other two contestants to advance to the final puzzle.

Faced with PAR_ ___DE, he saw PART in the first word but couldn’t think of a second word to go with it.

It turned out to be PARK GUIDE.

Still, he won $21,250.

He won’t get the money until July. The show waits 120 days before sending a check, he said from his family home in Springfield, Massachusetts. Three of his four brothers and his parents watched with him, along with his girlfriend, a cousin and a friend. The oldest of the five boys is still in Belize.

Sometimes, he said, he gets mixed up and says he has five brothers. There are five brothers, but he’s one of them, so he has only four brothers. That happened on the show, and when he named them, he said Nick’s name twice and left out Danny, saying he couldn’t think of the last one. It’s a family joke that Danny gets forgotten, he said Thursday. Sajak lost count and decided there were seven.

Sears hadn’t told anyone the outcome, even his mother. His father had been with him in California, but he hadn’t told, either. Everyone was nervous, he said, then surprised, and happy.

How will he spend his fortune? “Honestly, I don’t know yet,” he said. It will probably go toward “paying back some of the loans I have.”

Asked what qualities contributed to his win, he said optimism and the willingness to go with the flow.

“I had a blast,” he said. “You can’t picture what it’s like, the cameras being on you,” meeting Vanna White, and Pat Sajak coming to talk to you. “Getting to talk with the other college contestants, toying with all my friends.”

“It was one of the coolest experiences I’ve ever had.”

— dnaylor@ providencejournal.com

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On Twitter: @donita22