‘Wheel of Fortune’ Fans Blast Show After Contestant Loses $40,000
Wheel of Fortune fans have blasted the game show after a contestant lost $40,000 on a puzzle many thought was impossible to solve.
Byron Bernard, from Austin, Texas played against Hunter Simmons, from Fullerton, California, and Melissa Ortiz, from North Babylon, New York, on Wednesday, April 30. Bernard changes his hobbies frequently with his most recent being snowboarding. He also loves temperature changes and told host Ryan Seacrest that he goes outside and sits in his rain jacket to enjoy the weather.
“The other day it hailed and I went outside at three in the morning,” Bernard said. Seacrest stared at the camera in silence with a confused expression on his face for a few seconds.
“Doesn’t hail hurt?” the host asked after he pulled himself together.
“It’s not too bad,” Bernard admitted.
“I’m going to try it sometime,” Ryan Seacrest said.
Bernard solved the first toss-up, “Inflating an Inner Tube,” for $1,000. Ortiz, a librarian at Lorette Park Elementary School, solved the second one, “Tequilla Sunrise,” for $2,000.
Bernard solved the first puzzle for $1,000, tying Ortiz. Simmons had no money at that point. He finally got on the board when he solved the third puzzle, adding $1,700 to his bank.
Bernard took the lead when he solved the Prize Puzzle — “Mouth Water Risotto” — and won a trip to Italy, making his total $11,600.
All three game show contestants solved one Triple Toss-Up each, putting an extra $2,000 into their banks. In a rare occurrence, Wheel of Fortune fit in one more puzzle before the final puzzle, and Ortiz solved it. Simmons solved the final puzzle, “Number One Best-Seller,” and added $9,000 to his total. This put him in second place after he was last the whole game.
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Only $900 behind Bernard, Simmons ended with $12,700. Bernard had $13,600 and advanced to the Bonus Round. Oritz went home with $6,700.
For the Bonus Round, Bernard chose “Living Things.” He brought his cousin with him to cheer him on who told Ryan Seacrest that Bernard is actually non-committal to his hobbies.
After Wheel of Fortune gave him, “R,S,T,L,N, and E,” he chose “G,M,C, and O,” to round out the puzzle. It then looked like “_ _ _ _T_C _ _R_S.” He mumbled words like “Pacific, “Artic,” and “Blast,” but none of them were correct.
The puzzle was revealed to be “Aquatic Birds,” and he lost out on an additional $40,000. Still, he walked away with more than $13,000 total.
When Bernard’s Bonus Round was posted to YouTube, fans had something to say about the odd puzzle.
“Aquatic Birds. Where and what the hell are they!?” one fan asked. (Editor’s Note: An aquatic bird is a bird that lives on or around water.)
“Very tough solve,” said another.
“Wow. This show sucks now,” added a third.
“They are really making the contestants earn the wins this week,” a fan commented.
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Interesting how the comments seem to believe the game should be "easy" to solve for some contestants but applaud others when the answer is most unusual when solved. If they want easy they should watch Sesame Street.
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Aquatic birds is very common to people who are knowledgeable with nature and see nature documentaries.
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I'm surprised no one talked bad about Ryan seacrest on there comments. I was watching celebrity wheel of Fortune just to see how Pat sajak did compare to Ryan seacrest that gets such bad talk all the time I noticed that Pat sajak seemed confused and was not in control and he was boring replacing him was Ryan was a good decision.
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This show has gotten to be boring. You may as well get rid of the wheel of prizes in the bonus round as there is a 80% chance it will be $40,000. Talk about a great game show going nowhere anymore. We used to look forward to watching this every week night. Now, we try to find something else. Ryan didn’t even show what the contestant picked after he didn’t guess the bonus puzzle. Ryan Seacrest is not a good host either. I look for this show to end its tenure if big changes are not made. What a crying shame.
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They need to grow up
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I still love watching wheel of fortune!! Ryan is good at everything he does, but a few nights ago a contest asked if he could solve the puzzle during the last round where they don't have to spin the wheel. Ryan said go ahead to solve the puzzle. He didn't even asked the contest first if would like to give another letter before he solved the puzzle to earn more money. Pat would always remind the contest you could give another letter first unless the contest just started to solved the puzzle before Pat could say anything to remind the contest
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It's not a game named " you get the money even if you lose."
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I'm still wondering how they gave him credit when he clearly said, " RiZOto" instead of "RiSOto".
They are very inconsistent on their rulings.
Also, anyone else notice that the final round is overwhelmingly $40,000?
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Of course there is going to be a particular denomination that is more than the others. That is the way statistics work. Welcome to real life. As far as your other so-called complaint, having an accent does not disqualify you from answering the question.
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risotto
/rĭ-sō′tō, rē-zōt′tō/
learn how to speak
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