Wheel of Fortune contestant Megan Carvale is clearing the air as to whether or not the game show really “robbed” her of $40,000.

On Tuesday night’s (Jan. 30) episode, Carvale advanced to the coveted final “Bonus Round,” where she was met with a puzzle from the “Living Things” category. With ten seconds to guess the correct answer of “Pink Orchid” and earn $40,000, she was given the following letters: “P_N_ _RC__D.”

As the timer began, she made her first guess.

“Something orchid,” she began, ultimately guessing “pony orchid” before time ran out.

Many fans were certain she had uttered “pink orchid” as her first guess, and flocked to X (the platform formerly known as Twitter) to share their thoughts. One viewer was “fuming” that Carvale wasn’t awarded the money, while another felt that she “sounded pretty clear in saying ‘pink orchid.'”

However, this wasn’t actually the case according to Carvale herself, who appeared on Good Morning America Thursday morning (Feb. 1) to reveal what she truly said on the episode.

“You know, I wish I said ‘pink,’ because I would have been $40,000 richer,” she explained. “But I said ‘something.'”

While she was “so excited” to compete on the show and “had a blast,” she admitted that she was “so bummed” to have lost the Bonus Round, and joked about “reliving this loss” since it’s been “all over headlines.”

“But at least it’s positive attention,” she clarified. “It could’ve been people making fun of me that I didn’t get it right.”

Despite still winning $14,007, Carvale said she was reminded of her loss “the whole way home” from the show by her eight-year-old son, who was in the audience during the taping.

“‘Mom, I can’t believe you didn’t get pink,'” she remembered her son telling her on the ride home. “That word has already been haunting me and now all of America believes that I said it, but I didn’t.”

Wheel of Fortune airs on weeknights at 7:30/6:30c. Check out their website for local listings.