‘Wheel of Fortune’ Player Misses ‘Easy’ $75,000 Puzzle After Rare Event (VIDEO)

A Wheel of Fortune contestant drew a blank on a $75,000 bonus puzzle, which many viewers were not shy about saying they knew. But the contestant’s very presence in the bonus round was by the narrowest of margins; he only won the game by $100.

On Monday, November 4’s episode, Kenneth Blount-Hames, a flight attendant of 13 years from Charlotte, North Carolina, by way of Atlanta, Georgia, proceeded to the bonus round after one of the closest episodes in history. He finished with $18,850, ahead of rival Darren who finished with $18,750.

Selecting “Phrase,” he joined host Ryan Seacrest to tackle the five-word puzzle. It read, “_E’ ‘_ _ _ E’ ‘T_ _ T’ ‘_N’ ‘_ _ _ _ _ N’. As opposed to most “Phrase” puzzles, this one was lengthy and in a way that only so many phrases are, with only one long word on the end.

After selecting “WCDO,” the puzzle read, “WE’ ‘_ _ _ E’ ‘T_ _ T’ ‘_N’ ‘C O _ _ O N’. Seacrest remarked, “The bottom; helpful,” and Vanna White flashed an encouraging smile. But when the 10-second timer began, Kenneth was unable to put together a complete guess.

The timer ran out, and the puzzle displaying itself as, “WE HAVE THAT IN COMMON.” Seacrest revealed from his gold prize card that Kenneth missed out on an extra $75,000, causing him to walk off-frame and exclaim, “Oh my god.”

The game show shared the big miss on YouTube, where many fans in the comments had something in common; knowing the puzzle while Kenneth didn’t.

“The RSTLNE was already enough for me to solve it,” one fan wrote.

“I got it without any of Kenny’s letters!” wrote another.

“I figured that out in about six seconds,” wrote a third.

“I got it it was easy,” wrote a fourth.

“I already knew what the puzzle was right off the bat,” wrote a fifth.

“Darn at least it wasn’t $100,000,” supported a fifth. 

Others had to point out the rare scenario of two near-identical scores before Kenneth emerged the winner:

“That was the closest main-game win since that tarot-card reader won by only $47 a couple of years ago,” one more fan wrote.

Meanwhile, WoF fans are warming up to Seacrest, who became the official replacement for Pat Sajak after four decades. His debut month was the strongest ratings month for WoF in the past three years, That said, there have been some puzzling moments.

In September, Seacrest suffered what fans dubbed his “first blooper”, involving a delayed reaction to rewarding a bonus round. Fans also called out the host for ruling against another player before the timer was up. And there have been a few on-screen “glitches,” and some let-down trip destinations, and some questionable bonus puzzles (Cashew Nuts?) … a letter-perfect example of the typical, more vague “Phrase” category.

Wheel of Fortune, Weeknights, Check local listings