‘Wheel of Fortune’ Fans Confused at Contestant’s Guess as He Loses Motorcycle
Hit the brakes! A Wheel of Fortune contestant did not say the fully solved word on the board, which caused him to lose money.
Edwin Bates, from Belle Chase, Louisiana, returned for his second game on April 23. The retired Marine won $92,700 the night before.
On Thursday, Bates played against Drew Rummel, from Sarver, Pennsylvania, and Lynda Randall, from Kansas City, Missouri. Rummel, a man who started riding Harley-Davidson motorcycles last year, solved both toss-ups.
During the first round puzzle, Rummel landed on the Harley Davidson wedge, which gave him an extra $1,000. With only two letters left, he solved “A Locked In Your Pocket.” This gave him a big lead with $8,850.
The second round had fans screaming when a contestant pronounced a word that was fully solved, wrong. With only four letters left to solve in “Same Name”, the puzzle looked like “INFRARED & TRAFFI_ _I_ _T.”
Rummel said, “Infra & Traffic Light.” Host Ryan Seacrest had to tell him that it was wrong. Bates then guessed one letter before solving “Infrared & Traffic Light.” He was right and won $1,000.
Reddit users were baffled as to why he didn’t say the entire word. “Why did Drew not say red?” one fan wondered.
“When I heard it, I thought there was a glitch in my local broadcast; I even played that part back to listen again,” another replied.
“That was odd,” one fan said.
“I’m very pissed that Drew mispronounced INFRARED and wasted $14K,” a Reddit user commented.
“All the dude had to do was pronounce the word correctly,” another commented.
“I thought my TV skipped, like the sound went for a sec! Omg,” one last fan said.
Randall, a woman who is into fashion and accessories, obtained the Wild Card during the next round. She solved most of the puzzle before landing on Bankrupt. The turn then moved to Rummel, who guessed one letter before solving “Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go.” He won trips to Switzerland, Austria, and Bavaria, which gave him a total of $22,698.
Bates solved one of the triple toss-ups while Rummel solved the other two. Rummel solved “Honking Horns” for $4,800. This gave him a final total of $31,498.
Randall did not win any money, so Wheel of Fortune gave her $1,000. Bates won $3,000, which gave him a two-day total of $95,700.
Rummel moved on the Bonus Round and chose “What Are You Doing?” and brought his son, Logan, with him. Wheel of Fortune gave him “R,S,T,L,N, and E.”
The game show contestant rounded out his puzzle with “G,D,M, and O.” The puzzle looked like “LOO_ _NG _ _ _ _.”
Rummel guessed “Looking Back” and “Looking Down,” but the puzzle was “Looking Away.” The Harley-Davidson was in the envelope. He will return on Friday for his second game.
Wheel of Fortune, weekdays, check local listings, stream next day on Hulu and Peacock
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