Siena University alum wins biggest prize ever on 'Wheel of Fortune'

A Siena University alum - from back when it was Siena College - is paying off her school loans at last.

She won the biggest prize ever on "Wheel of Fortune." The very first thing she said when she learned she had won $1 million?

"I can pay off my student loans!"

Christina Derevjanik graduated from Siena in 2012. She is a marketing manager at Con Edison, a utility company in New York City.

She and her boss traveled to L.A. for the taping of "Wheel of Fortune" in May. On her journey to the big prize on the episode which aired Tuesday, she won trips to Tokyo and Montana. (Montana might sound like an odd destination prize, but one of the most-visited national parks, Yellowstone, is located there.)

Then she pulled the $1 million envelope, which went into a wedge that she could randomly hit when spinning the wheel. Only three other players have ever hit that wedge and then gotten the puzzle right to win it, according to TV Insider .

Host Ryan Seacrest and Derevjanik joked about what it would be like to win the $1 million. Seacrest noted that Derevjanik's boss wouldn't come down to chat with them.

"She was afraid to come down because I think she was afraid to get the question, 'Can I have time off?'" Seacrest said.

Derevjanik had already won two trips, so she said she would indeed be asking for time off.

Then Seacrest asked what she'd do if she won the $1 million.

"I may be putting in my two weeks, but we won't tell her that yet," Derevjanik said.

She handed him the $1 million wedge. He inserted it in the wheel, jokingly calling it the "retirement envelope." Then she spun. Before she could look at the wedge she hit, she had to solve a puzzle, which she did.

Then host Ryan Seacrest showed her the wedge and she screamed her delight at being able to pay off her loans.

As for the job, she quickly said, "I was just kidding!"

Derevjanik and her boss had to keep the win secret for months, until the show aired this week. Derevjanik didn't even tell her parents or her new boyfriend, she said in interviews.

The boyfriend had no idea. He didn't even go to her watch party with her. But he did tune in to see how the show went - and then called her in shock, she said in an interview with the New York Post.

She confirmed in other interviews that she had not quit her job.

"So that was just a running joke. Never thinking it would ever happen. But yeah, I'm going to be staying at work," she said on "Good Morning America."

Now that she's had several months to think about it, her big plans for the money still include paying off the loans. Then she'll buy a house, she said.

"It's something that, you know, the last 15 years I've been out of college, I've just been like, 'How am I ever going to pay this off? ' And now, it is just going to be such a relief and then hopefully, invest in a home in the next couple of years," she said on "Good Morning America."

To the New York Post, she added that the money is "completely life-changing."

"I don't know when I would've been able to afford a home, so these winnings are just completely life-changing for me. I'm really excited about what the future holds now that I have this financial freedom," she said.

Her total winnings, before taxes, were $1,035,155, the biggest prize ever, according to Wheel of Fortune.

Siena University posted a clip of her win on social media and congratulated her.

This article originally published at Siena University alum wins biggest prize ever on 'Wheel of Fortune' .