Arlington Resident Wins Big on 'Wheel of Fortune'

After besting his competition from start to finish, had already amassed $22,400 heading into the bonus round of Friday’s edition of ‘Wheel of Fortune.’

The 34-year-old Addison Street resident and father of two then got little help from his three consonants and a vowel, “B, P, H, A,” as with the standard, “R, S, T, L, N, E,” the puzzle still had a lot of gaps:

Phrase
“ - ”   “ - - - L - ” “BE”   “ - EL - - THE - ”
(take 10 seconds and see if you would’ve won, answer below)

However, even with the cryptic board, Lourenco called out the right answer in a flash. Host Pat Sajak then opened Lourenco’s envelope, which revealed a $40,000 cash prize, bringing his total to $62,400.

Lourenco, a project manager at a nonprofit healthcare organization, told ‘Wheel of Fortune’ that he plans to use some of the money to go on a trip with his wife and their two boys.

The Somerville native played the game in early February, and .

The Game

Lourenco got off to a hot start, getting the first two “Toss Ups” for $3,000 and then winning a longer puzzle, which was worth $11,900.

The first “Toss Up:”

Movie Quote
“S - - - - ”   “ - - ” “ - L - Y”   “ - ”   “ - - ME?”
(answer below)

The second:

Living Things
“GR - - - NG”   “SH - EP”
(answer below)

Then, on the longer puzzle, with this showing:

Fictional Family
“DART - ”   “ - AD - R”   “ - - - - ”   “S - - - A - - - R”   “AND”   “ - P - N - - SS”   “ - - - A”
(answer below)

Lourenco landed on $3,500 and, already knowing the puzzle, guessed “L” for $10,500.

He took another “Toss Up” and then the last puzzle to bring his total to $22,400 before the bonus round – a Villanova graduate student finished second with $7,900 and a Brooklyn Law School student was third, $2,800.

After knowing what movie the quote was from on the first “Toss Up,” Lourenco was the clear favorite going into the longer puzzle due to his 1980s movie knowledge, according to Sajak.

“I figured anyone who can do an impression of the computer from ‘WarGames’ was going to waltz through that puzzle,” Sajak said to him during the show.

Answers:

“I WOULD BE DELIGHTED”

“SHALL WE PLAY A GAME?”

“GRAZING SHEEP”

“DARTH VADAR, LUKE SKYWALKER AND PRINCESS LEIA”