Wheel of Fortune’ Contestant Fails To Solve $100,000 Puzzle That Fans Called ‘Impossible’

A Navy veteran from Dallas, Texas, came agonizingly close to a life-changing prize on Wheel of Fortune — only to watch $100,000 slip through her fingers in the Bonus Round.

Nekeia Borders, now a supervisor at a large retail chain, appeared in a February episode that re-aired Friday, August 1. She spent most of the game trailing behind her competitors — Abby Gerlemann of Hermann, Missouri, and Patrick Thomassie of Chicago, Illinois — until a late-game boost brought her back into contention.

Borders managed to snag a Wild Card in the main game, even though she solved just two puzzles. That card gave her the rare advantage of choosing an extra letter in the Bonus Round. She selected “Phrase” as her category, and the standard letters R, S, T, L, N, and E appeared on the board. Borders then called D, M, P, I, and C thanks to her Wild Card advantage.

The result? The puzzle read: L_ _ _ _ C _ _ IT _ _N_NESS.

With the 10-second clock ticking, Borders tried to piece it together, guessing words like “Kindness,” “Mindness,” and “Late.” But time ran out before she could land on the correct phrase: “LOOK BACK WITH FONDNESS.”

When host Ryan Seacrest revealed that the sealed envelope contained not only $100,000 but also a trip to India, Borders reacted with disbelief — she tilted her head back, spun around, and stomped her feet while the audience let out a collective groan. Still, she walked away with a respectable $34,000 in winnings and insisted she wasn’t bitter.

“I’m not complaining,” she said after the episode aired.

Viewers who watched the clip on YouTube weren’t shy about sharing their thoughts. Many blasted the puzzle as “impossible” without luck on letter picks.

“Yeah, that was impossible. One commenter noted, ‘The only way to stand a chance was by picking the exact right letters.’

Another added, “That was a very difficult puzzle, but she still took home a bulk of cash! Congratulations.” Others chimed in calling it “really hard” and admitting they wouldn’t have solved it either.

Borders’ path to the Bonus Round was anything but smooth. After winning the $2,000 toss-up early in the show, she remained stuck at that total until the fourth puzzle — when a key solve of “Welcome to the Jungle” pushed her up to $34,000.

Her opponents didn’t walk away empty-handed either. Thomassie collected $19,298 plus a trip to Spain, while Gerlemann earned $21,350.

After the episode aired, Borders posted on Threads to thank friends, family, and fans. “Whew!!!! Y’all worked me this Super Bowl weekend ya hear me!!!! Calls/DMs/texts, oh my!!!! People I haven’t talked to in forever showed up and showed out coast to coast to see me on TV!!! I Love Y’all Real Big!!!” she wrote.