Last night, a “Wheel of Fortune” contestant named Emil shocked viewers — and, apparently, a bemused, head-shaking Pat Sajak — when he correctly guessed the inane phrase “new baby buggy” on his first try.
Bloggers quickly pronounced it “absolutely incredible.” “The Wheel of Fortune equivalent of a Hail Mary touchdown.” Sajak even called it “the most amazing solve in my 30-plus years on the show.” But while it is legitimately amazing that Emil came up with the phrase in the 10-second time frame — and that, moreover, he came up with it on his very first try — linguistics were in his favor. There simply weren’t that many other phrases to pick.
Tonight’s ″Wheel of Fortune” features most amazing solve in my 30 years on the show. No kidding.
— Pat Sajak (@patsajak) March 19, 2014
Here’s a quick Wheel of Fortune primer, for those of you who forgot it survived the ’80s. The contestant gets a category and a mystery phrase to determine, with six common letters — R, S, T, L, N and E — already filled in. He also gets to guess three additional consonants and one vowel; in this case, Emil guessed H, M, D and O and ended up with this:
NE_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
… which looks like an impossible puzzle. But in fact, the first word is a dead giveaway: The only three-letter word besides “new” that starts with “ne” and doesn’t end with one of the ruled-out letters is the obscure “neb.” (“Noun: a projecting part of something, in particular.” Not exactly game show material.)
Once he had “new,” Emil needed only guess which four- and five-letter words contained his unused letters. This task — while requiring a great deal of mental dexterity — isn’t exactly impossible. For one thing, unbeknownst to viewers, contestants get to see a “Used-Letter Board” that shows them what letters remain. (“YES, there is a Used-Letter Board, so everyone knows which letters have been called … it starts with all 26 letters, and they drop off once they’ve been called,” a past contestant explained on the official Wheel of Fortune blog.)
Emil’s Used-Letter Board would’ve looked like this:
ABC FG IJK PQ UVWXYZ
For our purposes, half those letters are useless; Q, J, Z, X, V, K and W all occur in less than 1.5 percent of English words. So essentially, Emil needed to make a four- and five-letter word out of A, B, C, F, G, I, P, U and Y — which no longer looks like quite a tricky puzzle, does it? (Particularly when you already have the first word, new.)
In fact, even when you include Q, J and all the rest, there are only 53 five-letter words that Emil could’ve guessed — and most of them either border on gibberish or are not “things.” Check it out:
aback
abuzz
affix
ajaja
baggy
biguy
bubba
buffa
buggy
buzzy
byway
cabby
civic
cubby
cubic
facia
fizzy
fuzzy
gabby
gappy
gauzy
gawky
guava
guppy
jacky
jaggy
jazzy
jiffy
juicy
kappa
kayak
kiack
papaw
pappy
pawky
picky
piggy
pizza
pubic
puffy
pukka
puppy
quack
quaff
quick
quiff
quipu
wacky
wicca
yucca
yucky
yuppy
zippy
None of this should detract from Emil’s victory, of course. Working through those permutations in a couple seconds — on national TV, moreover — is both savant-level brilliant and kind of insane. But let’s give Emil credit for savvy play with the Used-Letter Board, and not for making a wild guess. To quote Chris Jones, writing in Esquire about Caitlin Burke’s similarly “miraculous” Wheel of Fortune win in 2010, “Sometimes, people who don’t understand any better confuse the mundane with the divine, mistake hard work for lightning bolts.”
After all, as far as guesses go, it wasn’t even that wild; other valid options included “New wavy byway,” “new waxy wicca.” “new icky kayak” … and “new cava guava.”
New baby buggy? That just makes good sense.
FAQs
'Wheel of Fortune' Snafus and Wild Moments Over the Years: Mispronunciations, Controversial Puzzle Rules and More. Wheel of Fortune has entertained countless viewers since it originally premiered in 1975 — but with time also comes error.
What did the Wheel of Fortune contestant say? ›
the lady at the end went to guess the puzzle, got carried away and said 'I'm going places!' and starts dancing, but the puzzle was “Going places”, yet she won!” However, many others came to Howard's defense, reminding the complainers that “She corrected it within two seconds.”
Do Wheel of Fortune contestants know what letters have been guessed? ›
They're looking at the "used letter board" to see which letters have already been called. Having an awareness of this board is an important part of being a successful contestant!
Did Wheel of Fortune used to give away prizes? ›
Previously, contestants could win gold-and-silver packages, jewelry, annuities, trips, boats, trailers, motorhomes, or other esoteric prizes. The most expensive Bonus Round prize in the W-H-E-E-L era was a custom-built Shelby Cobra worth over $105,000, won by Derek Rose on a Las Vegas episode in February 1998.
What is the controversy on Wheel of Fortune? ›
A “Wheel of Fortune” contestant won last night's game but failed to correctly guess the bonus puzzle. After the episode aired, fans of the game show began rallying around the contestant, insisting that she had actually named the right answer to the puzzle but that host Pat Sajak had failed to recognize it.
What is the most bankrupts on Wheel of Fortune? ›
The single-round record for Bankrupt hits is believed to be six, occurring on March 27, 1979 (Round 2); October 11, 1994 (Round 3); October 26, 1994 (Round 3); May 26, 2005 (Round 3); December 30, 2008 (Round 3, one from the Mystery Wedge); October 4, 2011 (Round 2); November 28, 2013 (Round 3); March 18, 2015 (Round 2 ...
How does Vanna know what letters? ›
In order to get the job done right, White is given the answers to the puzzles in advance so she knows where the letters are located. Even so, she once turned around the wrong letter to a puzzle, which had to be thrown out.
What is the most popular letter on Wheel of Fortune? ›
Most picked R, S, T, L, N and E, which are some of the most common letters in English, revealing about half of the letters on average.
What you didn't know about the Wheel of Fortune? ›
The Wheel noise comes from 73 stainless steel pins which hit three rubber flippers. There is also only one puzzleboard. The current version is made up of 52 touch screen television monitors turned on their sides. There are 12 across in the top and bottom rows, and 14 across the two middle rows.
Is there a dress code for Wheel of Fortune? ›
Of course there's a dress code on Wheel of Fortune! It is often described as business casual. Contestants are told to avoid wearing solid black, white, or bright red, as well as anything with patterns, like plaid or stripes.
6. There is no ticket purchase required to participate in the Promotion, and the purchase of a ticket will not be considered a factor in determining Show Contestants.
What is the least used letter in Wheel of Fortune? ›
Only V, J, Q, Z, and X are less frequent. No one ever calls V, J, Q, Z, or X unless they already know the answer to the puzzle and want to show off. Yet 57.9% of players pick M.
Do the contestants on Wheel of Fortune get to keep the money they win? ›
How much does a contestant make for being on "The Wheel Of Fortune"? There is no pay for being on the show—other than your winnings. (There is a minimum of $1,000 given to all contestants who don't win.) 3-Day Undefeated Champion from May 1992.
How much do you get taxed on Wheel of Fortune? ›
If a contestant wins cash they just need to set aside enough of the cash winnings to pay their taxes! The amount of the tax will vary by individual based on their tax bracket and the state they live in. The federal tax can be as high as 39.6% and some states' as high as 13%.
Does Wheel of Fortune call you if you win? ›
Each potential daily sweepstakes prize winner will be notified by phone within two (2) weeks of being selected in a drawing.
Has anyone swept Wheel of Fortune? ›
'Wheel of Fortune' Contestant Shocks Pat Sajak Nearly Speechless With Record Win. Ricky Gilbert swept the board during Tuesday's game, correctly guessing every single puzzle. One Wheel of Fortune contestant has left host and viewers alike in shock following his impressive win.
Has anyone lost the million dollars on Wheel of Fortune? ›
To keep the $1 million piece, Brown had to either give one correct letter or complete the puzzle. Much to some fans' dismay, she guessed the letter “H,” which was incorrect.
Has there ever been a tie at the end of Wheel of Fortune? ›
Yes. It has happened twice. Once in 2003 and again in 2006. When two (or three) contestants are tied for total daily winnings at the completion of the regular puzzles, there will be a “toss-up playoff” where all tied players will compete in a “toss-up” round.
What was David's scoring error on Wheel of Fortune? ›
Apparently, when David won the Prize Puzzle last season, he was originally told he'd won a trip to Antigua. However, he ended up getting a trip to Mexico. The theory was that the prize puzzle trips got mixed up between sixth tapings, because the prize the very next day was the exact same Mexico trip.
