'Wheel of Fortune' player wins big but viewers couldn't get over what was written on her name tag
People who make it to “Wheel of Fortune” bring their puzzle-solving skills and fair share of luck to win games. But there are a few who go out of their way to get noticed during their appearance on the small screen that could even go viral. The audience has seen a player walk in looking like Albert Einstein, and the host, Ryan Seacrest, was once astonished by a contestant's skills with the yo-yo. In a recent episode of the show, a librarian stood out rather unintentionally because of her nickname, Piddle. It may have sounded cute to her parents, but the word means, 'to urinate.' Even with the awkward name, she did really well on the show but stumbled in the Bonus Round.
The contestant was on fire leading up to the final round, and a clip on Instagram showed how good she was with puzzles, even the big ones. She cracked several of them correctly and won more than $20,000. Her performance won her a wild card and a $1 million wedge, which she could have won at the end of the show, but it was just not meant to be.
“Piddle, you’re a lot of fun,” host Ryan Seacrest had said to her, to which she replied, “I am.” Before the Bonus Round began, the host revealed everything that the contestant had won so far, and it was truly staggering. “She doesn’t want to be greedy, but she’s got the million dollar wedge, she’s got the trip to Boston, she’s got the wild card, and she’s got $20,950,” he said.
View this post on Instagram
Now it was time for her to play the Bonus Round. Piddle selected the Places category and was given the letters R, S, T, L, N, and E. After these letters were revealed, the puzzle read, “__N_ET R___.” She then picked the letters M, H, B, O, and F. The puzzle was then further revealed to be “B_N__ET ROOM.”
The contestant had 10 seconds on the clock, but Piddle was unable to get an answer out in time. In the end, it became evident that she was not going to solve it, and that indeed was the case. She would have won $75,000 had she gotten it right, but there were no hard feelings on her part.
On the other hand, fans flooded the comments section with disappointment. “I was screaming the answer to my TV repeatedly! Regardless, Piddle had a great game!” one user commented on YouTube. “This was a really easy one. I screamed and screamed... it is sad that it ended in unsolved,” added another user. But on Reddit, her name was the main topic of discussion.
A post in r/WheelOfFortune about her was titled “What were her parents thinking?” While Piddle was the contestant’s nickname, people still found it funny. “I bet it's an unfortunate nickname her beloved husband, Bud, gave her on their first date. He made her laugh, and she piddled a little. He named her that on that very day. And she married him anyway,” one user commented.
“I just need you to know that me and my mother were in TEARS the entire episode over her name. And I had to come here while watching to see if anyone else was wondering the same thing, and your post was the first thing to pop up, and I died of laughter AGAIN. Lmfao felt good to have a nice laugh,” added one more fan.
