‘Wheel of Fortune’: Army Vet Wins $71,000 After Disaster on Another Game Show

A Wheel of Fortune contestant won $71,000 and got redemption for an historically bad performance on another game show five years ago when they went home with $0.

Army vet Mat Smith, from Los Angeles, California, played against Sara Liberman, from Livingston, New Jersey, and Tori Clark, from Hampton, Virginia, on January 15. Smith is a married man with two children who has been playing poker for years, read books about it, and even played in tournaments.

Smith was a contestant on Press Your Luck in June 2021. On that show he started out with lots of cash but then hit a Whammy and wound up going home with $0.  The disastrous performance meant that he was the first contestant to win the game, but walk away with no money.

On Thursday’s WOF he won the first toss-ups while Clark, a woman with a son on the way, solved the second one. Smith took the lead when he solved the first puzzle — “Licking the Bowl Clean” — for $4,400.

Liberman, a former gymnast, finally got on the board when she solved the “Before & After” puzzle — “Brad & The Pitt.” She put $1,000 in her bank.

She landed on the Express Wheel for the next puzzle and rode the train until there were two letters left. She went Bankrupt when she guessed an “R,” which wasn’t in the puzzle. The turn then moved to Clark, who landed on “Lose a Turn.” When it came to Smith, he guessed one letter and then solved “Medieval Monuments.” He won a trip to Croatia, giving him $17,098.

Smith solved two of the three triple toss-ups, which ironically had to do with shuffling for the poker player. Clark solved the third one.

Liberman solved “My Finest Hour” for the final puzzle, putting $3,300 into her bank. This gave her a final total of $4,300.

Clark went home with $4,000. Smith was the night’s big winner with $21,098. He chose “What Are You Wearing?” for the Bonus Round puzzle.

The retired Army veteran brought his mom and wife with him to the Bonus Round. His mom said that he was a good kid who never got into trouble.

“If he keeps gambling, he might get into some trouble,” host Ryan Seacrest said.

After being given “R,S,T,L,N, and E,” Smith chose “C,H,M, and A” to round out his puzzle. The puzzle then looked like “_ _NTA_E  _EAN  _AC_ET.”

Smith shook his head with a smirk. “My wife loves this, ‘Vintage Jean Jacket,'” he solved.

“He narrates his own victory,” Seacrest said.

Smith added $40,000 and a trip to Iceland to his total since it is Collette Week, and each Bonus Round amount comes with a trip. This gave him $71,996.

Fans recognized Smith from Press Your Luck and were happy that he finally won money. “I know who Mat is… The Press Your Luck “Legend” where he left with nothing in both the main game and bonus round. Redeemed against all odds on this show!!!” one YouTube user wrote.

“Finally, he won some money on a game show,” said another.

“That looks like the Mat that was on that one episode of Press Your Luck and walked away with $0,” a third added. 

“A brilliant redemption from Matt’s PYL,” a fan commented.