The Wheel of Fortune Puzzle That Left Viewers Completely Baffled
A competitor’s mistake during the Wheel of Fortune bonus round had even the show’s host, Ryan Seacrest, feeling bewildered.
During the broadcast on November 18, Joey Sweet, who works as a program director in Oceanside, California, was incredibly close to taking home a $40,000 jackpot. The chosen category was “phrase,” and Sweet faced an almost fully revealed board when it was time to submit his answer.
Following Sweet’s choice of the consonants C, D, M, and the vowel A, along with a bonus “F” courtesy of his Wild Card, the board displayed “CA_ED’ ‘_ _’ ‘_AND.'” The young player’s attempt, “Cleared in hand,” appeared logical initially, yet the clock ran out without the right answer. The actual phrase turned out to be “Carved By Hand”—a challenging sequence that brought frustration to both the contestant and the audience.
Even co-host Vanna White, who was anxiously anticipating a win, threw her hands up in dismay following the wrong answer. Ryan Seacrest, who has hosted the show since 2021, swiftly stepped in to comfort the player. “You were on the right track. This is a tricky one,” Seacrest expressed directly to Sweet. He subsequently unveiled the gold envelope holding the $40,000 that Sweet had just missed out on, but Seacrest didn’t stop his comforting words there. “Tough one,” the host noted, further stating, “Even with the head start,” nodding to the advantage provided by Sweet’s Wild Card wedge.
Even though he lost the massive jackpot, Sweet kept a positive and gracious attitude. “It’s okay!” he replied, demonstrating to the crowd that the difficult puzzle wasn’t going to ruin his mood. He still managed to leave with a highly respectable consolation reward, taking home more than $16,000 in cash along with a vacation to Mexico.
The baffling incident rapidly gained traction online after footage from the episode was posted on YouTube. Viewers filled the comment section, noting the extreme difficulty of the phrase. “I don’t think I would have solved that unless I chose the right letters. Tricky one indeed,” commented one fan. A different user highlighted that the word “By” is notoriously tough to figure out in the final round, a sentiment echoed by many others. The discussion carried over to social media, where a user on X (previously known as Twitter) posted, “To be fair, ‘By’ is a difficult word to think of when you think of 2-letter words on Wheel. #WheelOfFortune.”
This on-air mishap came right on the heels of another internet-famous incident from the week prior, involving a Connecticut police officer named Will Jordan. Jordan made waves for his bizarre attempt, guessing “Treat yourself a round of sausages” instead of the actual solution, “Give yourself a round of applause.” With these highly entertaining errors consistently grabbing the web’s focus, one fact remains undeniable: Wheel of Fortune consistently provides unexpected moments.
Sources: Newsweek