Whitefish Bay couple wins more than $100,000 on 'Wheel of Fortune'

Lainey Seyler
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Karly and Aaron Mandell of Whitefish Bay spun their way to a big win on "Wheel of Fortune" Wednesday. The couple competed against two other couples to win $127,000 in prizes, including a trip to Turks and Caicos and a $100,000 grand prize. 

Karly and Aaron Mandell embrace as "Wheel of Fortune" host Pat Sajak presents them the prize for the bonus puzzle, $100,000.

The Mandells have been watching the show for years, but they started tuning in more regularly because their son loves it. 

The Mandells competed together in a special couples episode.

"In our living room, we were always a good team," Karly said. "So we figured we'd do well."

Their winning phrase in the bonus puzzle was "Chewy Jerky."

Aaron said Karly knew it right away. "In the bonus round, I had very little to contribute, but Karly knew it. But earlier puzzles like the tossup, I could see sooner. So being on a team worked very well for us."

Another big moment was when they guessed "These are not the droids you're looking for" in a movie quote round. 

"We do not watch 'Star Wars,' " Aaron said. "But we had good luck spinning and good luck with the letters."

Aaron works at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee as an accounting professor and Karly is a stay-at-home mom with plans to study interior design this fall. They're thinking about investing the money in a property that they can fix up.