Every once in a while, I sit on my ass and test my skills by watching the game show Wheel of Fortune, thinking that, you know, since I’m a writer, I hope to be smart enough to solve some of the puzzles that are lacking letters.
But I stood no chance against this dude named Robert Santoli, because he solved an entire puzzle with just one fucking letter in it as a contestant on last Friday’s show.
As if that wasn’t enough, Santoli went on to absolutely dominate his competition, completely running through the other puzzles on his way to over $76,000 in cash and prizes—including two cruises.
Talking to TapInto.net, here’s what Santoli said he did in the days leading up to the show to get ready:
“I spent the days before our trip compiling a list of possible puzzles and key words themed toward sailing, cruising, water and even fishing. There are websites that keep track of past “Wheel of Fortune” puzzles, so I did some research on previous weeks themed toward these things and wrote them down. The show does sometimes repeat puzzles, especially themed ones. “Port & Starboard” had been used at least twice before my show, both times as a Toss-Up puzzle.
I got really lucky because that was the only puzzle that week that appeared verbatim on my list. As soon as I saw that “Places” was the category, I had a hunch and then I saw four blanks, an ampersand and nine blanks, and my face just lit up.”
The dude was so dominant that he said the show’s host, Pat Sajak, even told him to let the other players have a chance:
“‘That was great, Robert, but now we have to let someone else play, OK?'”
“As soon as I solved the Round 1 puzzle for some cash and a $6,009 cruise, I knew they had a lot of catching up to do, so I told them, ‘I’m sorry.'”
Go ahead and get back and dirt of your shoulders, Robert, because you were a fucking boss!