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'Wheel of Fortune' player solves a tough puzzle so quickly that Ryan Seacrest had to steady himself

The player made a complicated-looking puzzle look like a walk in the park.
PUBLISHED MAY 18, 2025
Screenshots showing the puzzle on "Wheel of Fortune." (Cover image source: YouTube | Game Show Tube)
Screenshots showing the puzzle on "Wheel of Fortune." (Cover image source: YouTube | Game Show Tube)

Contestants on “Wheel of Fortune” often find puzzles challenging with all their skills and luck, even as fans at home are able to solve them. But sometimes, a contestant can make the game look like a cakewalk by solving puzzles within seconds or doing so with just a couple of letters. When one contestant did pull off a win with just two letters filled in the blank spaces, Seacrest had to take the support of a centrepiece to regain his balance and composure.

The contestant was a man named Christian Gallardo, who solved a massive puzzle with only a couple of letters revealed. That, however, doesn’t mean that only a couple of spots opened up in the puzzle. The two letters were S and E, and they opened up five spots. However, it was still impossible to understand what the phrase was.

But the contestant quickly said, “It doesn’t get any better,” and that was the correct answer. The host was stunned upon seeing such a feat. “You gotta be somewhere? What’s going on?” he asked as Gallardo celebrated his epic solve. “How’d you do that?” the Seacrest asked the contestant again, as per a TV Insider report. “Prize puzzle!” the player replied.

Screenshot showing a stunned Ryan Seacrest. (Image credit: YouTube | Game Show Tube)
Screenshot showing a stunned Ryan Seacrest. (Image source: YouTube | Wheel Of Fortune | Game Show Tube)

The contestant won a $7,428 trip to the Aulani Resort in Oahu but was not able to win the game show despite winning cash and prizes worth up to $11,878. Instead, a woman named Staci was the big winner with $24,866. However, Gallardo’s fantastic solve will be remembered for a long time to come in the minds of the show’s fans.



 

Solving a puzzle with only five open spots is an incredible achievement. But a contestant named Caitlin did it with only one letter. At the time, Pat Sajak was the host, and the gigantic puzzle only had one letter opened, a solitary L. There was a pause when Caitlin said she wanted to solve. Sajak was taken aback and probably believed that she wasn’t going to get it right. “I’ve a good feeling about this,” she said, and that was the correct answer. “I had a good feeling about it,” the contestant said a few moments later. The host stood by the contestant in shock as she asked what she had won.



 

“Wait a minute. Let me get over this first,” he said. Fans loved the moment and mentioned it in the comments on YouTube. “I can't ever get over the 4 seconds of silence while Pat (and all of us) try to decide if she's serious or just confused about how to play the game,” one user commented. “The shortest round in Wheel of Fortune history,” added another.

While games get too intense even for Ryan Seacrest on "Wheel of Fortune," the same was true for rivalries between celebs on the other show he hosted, "American Idol." When the show's producers had to pick a replacement for Katy Perry, they had to go through a lot of names, as she was perfect for the job.

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