'Wheel of Fortune' contestant made Ryan Seacrest reveal his secret fear before losing a car
"Wheel Of Fortune'" host, Ryan Seacrest, may be brave enough to pull off risky stunts and break into dance routines, no matter how painful they are, but there is one thing that he is afraid of. Recently, while playing the game with a contestant, Ray Wilson, the host got candid about his fear of heights. While they got along well through the initial rounds, the end was heartbreaking as the player lost out on winning a brand new Lincoln car after failing to solve his bonus round puzzle.
In the episode, Ray Wilson, from Atlanta, played against Emily Nichols, from Naples, and Mike Rowitz, from Bokeelia, Florida. During the introductions, he had a candid chat with the host during introductions. He opened up about his fear of heights and shared his traumatic experience of nearly falling off into the Grand Canyon, according to TV Insider. Seacrest said that he could relate to the contestant as he also had a fear of heights.
The contestant also shared that he needed to take steps to make sure that he didn't pass out of fear, and his legs and knees shook when he got to somewhere high up. Since the set was on level ground, Wilson had no problem playing the game as he took the first toss-up puzzle by storm, winning $3,000 to get the lead. However, he briefly lost the lead to Nichols before making a comeback with a prize puzzle to win a Cruise of the Great Lakes. In the end, Wilson emerged as the big winner with a total of $23,398 in cash and prizes.
He then advanced to the Bonus Round, for which he picked the category, “What Are You Doing?” He was joined on stage by his childhood friend, Crystal, whom he called her good luck charm. After spinning the wheel alongside Seacrest, Wilson was faced with a long five-word puzzle.
With the show's standard letters, “R, S, T, L, N, E,” on the board, he chose “G, M, C, and A” as his additional letters. With all the clues on the board, the Bonus Round puzzle read, “C_ _ _ _NG _ _ _ _ AT _ _ME.”
After Seacrest kicked off the ten-second timer, Wilson tried his best to solve the puzzle. He shouted out a series of guesses like “Cooking Up At Home” and “Cooking It At Home,” before he stopped making sense. In the end, the host told him that he was on the right track as the answer was “Cozying It Up At Home.”
To add to the heartbreak, Seacrest revealed that the Wilson's Golden Envelope concealed the big prize, a brand new Lincoln car. Ryan Seacrest opened the envelope to reveal a luxury car from Lincoln. Nevertheless, the player still got to take home over $23,000 on his birthday.
While the player seemed happy, the fans of the show were bummed by the streak of losses. "Well no car winner today but Ray did well with 23k," @Animegamespublishing wrote in the YouTube comments. "Lots of puzzles containing difficult letters stopped them from winning the bonus round!!!" complained @robertclimate1563.
Apart from "Wheel Of Fortune", Seacrest got candid about his other gig, "American Idol" as well. Recently, he talked about one of his biggest slip-ups on TV, in an interview, sharing a funny story.
