‘Wheel of Fortune’ Fans Spot Big Show Mistake After Bonus Round Surprise
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Wheel of Fortune fans got a rare double dose of good news: Two players won their bonus rounds—and jackpot car prizes—in the same week. The victories marked the first car wins of the Ryan Seacrest era, though a production slip-up added a touch of déjà vu to the celebrations.
On Tuesday, December 3’s episode, Patty Spano from Woodridge, Illinois, pulled off the first car win. She proceeded to the bonus round with $42,400 in cash and the selection of “Place” as her category. She sized up the two-word puzzle and went with a savvy “B, M, F, A” as her additional letters. The puzzle read, “‘B _ R_ER’ ‘_ _ _ NT'” and she proceeded to ace it as “BURGER JOINT.” Spano nearly collapsed in excitement as Seacrest exclaimed, “You got it!” He revealed she won the 2025 Ford Explorer that was sitting off to the side and $87,605 total. She yelped, “Oh my god!” while hugging her husband.
On Friday, December 5’s episode, Jeff Richardson from Red Bank, New Jersey, emerged victorious. He boasted $16,650 in cash and selected “Phrase.” Picking “GMDO” as his additional letters, the three-word puzzle read, “O_ T’ ‘O_’ ‘_O_NDS.” The moment the 10-second timer began, he solved the puzzle in one go: “OUT OF BOUNDS.” Seacrest quipped how he thought Richardson “knew it” from the get-go, and once more, the host revealed that a Ford Explorer was in store for $61,855 total.
The game show shared the second big win on YouTube, where one eagle-eyed noted something puzzling: Announcer Jim Thorton presented the same prize in the exact same way. On both occasions, he said as the car was shown, “You’re cooking with gas in this brand-new Ford Explorer Active!”
“‘Cooking with gas!’ This is the second time he said that when someone won a car in the bonus round,” the top comment read.
Other fans simply celebrated the big wins, same script aside, which accelerated the bonus round victories for Season 42 after a dry spell in which there were multiple weeks of one or zero bonus round solves and multiple losses.
“2 car wins in the same week?! Way to go Jeff!” another fan wrote.
Seacrest, of course, had huge shoes to fill replacing the legendary Pat Sajak alongside the iconic Vanna White after four decades for Season 42. His debut month was the strongest ratings month for WoF in the past three years, and he’s impressed fans by forgoing cue cards. Plus, viewers were already treated to a viral moment (via a round of sausage). That said, there have been some questionable hosting moments according to fans.
In September, Seacrest suffered what fans dubbed his “first blooper”, involving a prolonged reaction to rewarding a bonus round. Fans also called out the host for ruling against another player before the timer was up. Last month, fans called out the host for not reminding a player to pick a letter, leading to him losing the game in a misunderstanding and by a mere $147. And last week, controversy ensued when the host denied a player’s correct puzzle solve because she didn’t ring in first, despite being the only player left allowed to answer it.
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