The cruelest thing a person can do to themselves is envision an alternate future, one that you could have if only you’d made a different decision at some crucial point in your life. We all have moments where life seems to confront us with the specter of what it is we could’ve had, but rarely does that happen on national TV to a sweet, kind-hearted old man named Frank.
On yesterday’s Wheel Of Fortune, Frank approached the episode’s final puzzle optimistically, having already won $26,203. Alongside Laurel, who called out his picks for him, Frank was faced with a two-word, 13-character puzzle. And, as you can see in the above clip, he came so close.
He figured out the second word was “zucchini,” but mistook the first one for “fried” instead of “baked.” Sure, he knew there was no “R” in the first line, but, c’mon, he only had 10 seconds. And he’s old! He had someone there helping him! Which is what made it that much more heartbreaking when Pat Sajak revealed that the puzzle was worth the rare $1 million prize.
Just look at his face:
This is what it looks like to stare into a black hole.
Godspeed, Frank. $26,000 is still a lot of money.
Right?