‘Wheel of Fortune’ Player Has Guns N’ Roses Glory Then Suffers Heartache
A Wheel of Fortune contestant on Friday’s (February 7) episode left the game with a new favorite band and over $30,000 in cash, but she missed out on the massive $100,000 grand prize in an “impossible” Bonus Round.
The contestant in question was Nekeia Borders, a US Navy veteran and retail store supervisor from Dallas, Texas, who faced off against Britney Spears superfan Patrick Thomassie from Chicago, Illinois, and mom-of-two Abby Gerlemann from Hermann, Missouri.
Despite nailing the first puzzle of the episode for $2,000, Borders struggled to increase her winnings in the first few rounds. By the end of the Express Round, Borders was trailing her two opponents, still only having $2,000 compared to Thomassie’s $15,298 and Gerlemann’s $21,350.
Even though she landed one of the puzzles in the Triple Tossup round, it seemed highly unlikely for Borders to catch up with just one puzzle remaining. However, in the Speed-Up round, Thomassie spun big, making every consonant worth $6,000.
Borders took advantage, finding five letters on the board and solving the “Song Lyrics” puzzle by answering “Welcome To The Jungle,” the words to the Guns N’ Roses classic. This gave her a total of $34,000, resulting in a huge comeback victory and sending her through to the Bonus Round.
“Well, with that last solve I think you’ve got a new favorite band,” host Ryan Seacrest quipped.
“Yeah, absolutely, Guns N’ Roses, you know it,” Borders joked. “I gotta memorize the song now.”
Borders, who entered the Bonus Round with a Wild Card wedge, meaning she could select five additional letters, picked the dreaded “Phrase” category and the letters “D, M, P, I, and C.”
This left her with a four-word puzzle that read: “L _ _ _ / _ _ C _ / _ I T _ / _ _ N D N E S S.”
Unfortunately for Borders, she couldn’t figure out the answer, “LOOKING BACK WITH FONDNESS.”
Seacrest then opened the prize envelope to reveal Borders lost out on a whopping $100,000 (plus a trip to India), making her the sixth contestant to miss out on the $100K this season. Borders threw her head back and pretended to have a tantrum before saying, “It’s okay.”
Many fans felt for Borders, saying the Bonus Round puzzle was “impossible.”
“KILLER puzzle. Unlucky to get that one. No way anyone is solving that,” wrote one YouTube commenter.
“Yea that was impossible. You had to call the right letters to have any chance,” said another.
“That was very difficult puzzle, but she still took home a bulk of cash! Congratulations,” another added.
Another wrote, “NO! IMPOSSIBLE! WORST FRIDAY EVER TO WRAP UP THIS WEEK! HOW PAINFUL IS THIS?!”
“I had absolutely no clue. I was thinking “with kindness,” but the K and I weren’t there so I was drawing a blank,” said one fan.
“Honestly that puzzle was VERY hard. PHRASE had a good winning streak in Bonus Land recently until this one. It’s too bad she landed on the big one,” added another.
What did you think of Friday’s episode? Did you figure out this tricky Bonus Round puzzle? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.
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Comments are closed on this story.
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O
It's "look back" not "looking back"
24
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P
Maybe it's "Lubbock"
🤣🤣🤣
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R
That puzzle was Rediculous,never in my 62 yrs have I Ever heard that phrase,,think is time to recover some puzzles from many yrs ago,I personally find Alot of rediculous puzzles nowadays that just don't make sense
12
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O
It's LOOK, not LOOKING.
11
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G
I solved that in 10 seconds, definitely not impossible.
10
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C
It's LOOK, not looking.
6
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P
It's look not looking.
5
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P
Not saying it isn't possible, but seems very odd to me that she would know the lyrics, or the band Guns and Roses. I have been suspicious of producer plants on WOF for awhile now, and my suspicions continue to grow. It seems you can almost always tell who is going to come out ahead. Not saying this because of color, as just as many are white winners. Has nothing to do with it. I never before ever suspected this, but when Seacrest took over remember how many big winners there were in the bonus round? Seemed everyone was winning, and some were impossible puzzles. They've slowed that down a bit, and when they do allow it, seems it's always 40k. Is WOF hurting for money, sponsorship, or is Seacrest salary too high? Maybe they paid out too much to promote Seacrest debut, and are playing makeup. Either way, I no longer find this show believable, or entertaining, and I do not think Seacrest has perfected his skill as the host.
5
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E
What's suspicious about her knowing "Welcome to the Jungle"? It was a massive hit that's still on the radio every single day, from an album that's still one of the top 10 best-selling albums ever in the US. It's not exactly obscure.
7
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O
Wrote this whole article, and screwed it up. What a moron.
4
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B
I got it so quick. But did anyone notice that the writer of the article got it wrong too?
They said "LOOKING back.with fondness"
Its CLEARLY
LOOK BACK WITH FONDNESS
Quote
"Unfortunately for Borders, she couldn’t figure out the answer, “LOOKING BACK WITH FONDNESS.”"
HA HA HA....someone needs an proofreader
3
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P
It was complicated!!!
3
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R
What are you talking about ?? Man you seem awfully judgemental. Welcome to the Jungle is one of the biggest songs of the late 80s/90s. I think it came out in 89??? Anyway for you say that sounds racist for real. Like the only thing she can listen to is what? Whitney Houston or Luther Vandross, what a joke dude. I am a white dude and listen to a lot including, GNR, Metallica, Master P, Bruno Mars, Otis Redding, Ray Charles, Whitney Houston, Leadbelly, BB King, Kingfisher, the Tempations, Allman Brothers, 2 Live Crew, Run DMC, Beastie Boys, I mean the list goes on and on and on....come on my guy?
2
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R
Spot on critique! Flea, Meatball, Steely Dan, Doobie Brothers, Chicago, Journey, The Stones, Led Zeppelin, Linkin Park, PATD, Chris Stapleton, Johnny Cash, Glen Campbell, Elton John, Bowie, Springsteen, and Blondie are on rotation in my house…proud musically diverse Black woman over here!
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B
Wouldn't say it's impossible, since "fondness" is pretty obvious, seeing as it can't be "kindness". I figured it out myself, but I wouldn't have been able to do it in the allotted time.
Of course, if it had been me, K would have been one of my consonant choices (on that assumption of "KINDNESS"), so the rest of the puzzle would have been much easier.
2
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C
I had it from the thumbnail i clicked to this article. Not that impossible and I'm not that smart. So it was just a pressure situation and they buckled. O_ W_ll.
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P
Ridiculous
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R
Why is it “very odd”? Who SHOULD know the lyrics or the band based on your assumptions? I know them and far more! Be careful putting people in boxes. It’s a slippery slope toward a place you in which you might one day get trapped. I guess by YOUR presumption, Darius Rucker, Jimi Hendrix, Tina Turner, Alabama Shakes, Tracy Chapman are all just bad fits?
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R
Me too! I wish people would stop assuming that there aren’t those of us who solve quite well and rarely miss.
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C
Even the idiot writing this article couldn't get the puzzle answer correct!
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R
It was hard for me. Fondness is not as used nowadays as it was years ago. I saw no issue with her solving Welcome to the Jungle.
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P
I solved that and I am ninety
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