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Wheel of Fortune is on the verge of celebrating its 50th anniversary, and plenty of contestants have given some head-scratching answers while trying to solve a puzzle over the decades. However, it’s hard to think of many that rival the one a guy delivered while trying (and failing) to close out a round.
There’s only so much you can do to prepare for the pressure that comes with being on a nationally syndicated game show, and while I’m firmly guilty of routinely judging contestants who screw things up from the comfort of my couch, I do so knowing I’d run the risk of befalling the same fate when dealing with bright lights and a live studio audience.
After all, my crippling fear of finishing in the red and being booted from the podium prior to the final round is enough to keep me from applying for the chance to appear on Jeopardy! in the first place.
I like to think I’d end up doing a bit better on Wheel of Fortune given the comparatively low intellectual barrier to entry, but I’d be even more embarrassed if I fell victim to the kind of brain farts that have led to a number of people going viral for all of the wrong reasons.
A lot of those moments involve Wheel of Fortune contestants who somehow failed to get the single letter they needed to solve the puzzle, although there have been multiple instances where people had every single one unveiled and still managed to get the answer wrong.
There are also more than a few situations where a contestant jumped the gun by deciding to solve a puzzle only to quickly realize they don’t actually know the answer.
That’s what unfolded during the episode that aired on Monday when a player named Will appropriately butchered his attempt to solve a puzzle that read “GIVE YOURSELF A ROUND OF APPLAUSE” by uttering “TREAT YOURSELF A ROUND OF SAUSAGE” instead.
I’ve always been jealous of any of y’all who are able to TREAT YOURSELF A ROUND OF SAUSAGE almost every day. #WheelofFortune 😜 pic.twitter.com/ThjAPlX46u
— WheelRob (@WheelRob10) November 12, 2024
Will uttered not one but two words that couldn’t have possibly been correct based on what was on the board while presumably becoming the first person in history to say the phrase “Treat yourself a round of sausage,” and I’d argue he deserves a round of applause for screwing it up as impressively as he did.