'Wheel of Fortune' contestant 'blacked out' during a game and failed to solve a simple puzzle

Fans of “Wheel of Fortune” have been watching the show long enough to solve puzzles, and that's why they're often harsh in their criticism of contestants who can't figure out seemingly simple answers. But amidst the chaos and energy in the studio, the player faces pressure on a different level that a viewer at home can't imagine. Some contestants even get starstruck after seeing Ryan Seacrest and Vanna White, which can affect how they think. A contestant who recently appeared on the show revealed that she had blacked out when she made a mistake on what looked like an easy solve.

The contestant was a woman named Mekdes Getahun, and she was up against Jeremy Owusu and Nolan Baack. Getahun is a writer who was in the process of publishing a book about her mother, who had passed away four years ago. One of her favorite pastimes was watching “Wheel of Fortune” together. She got off to a good start as she solved the first two tossups, according to a TV Insider report.

She then fell behind another player, who had solved the first puzzle, but it did not take her long to close the gap. Her best moment on the show came when she stormed into the lead on the next puzzle with $16,000 in her purse. That’s not all. She also won a trip to Las Vegas to see the iHeartRadio Music Festival. Next up was the Triple Toss-Up, and that’s when things went bad. Getahun, who had been playing well so far, buzzed in and answered, “Singing on a table,” for one of the puzzles. However, the correct answer was, “Singing on a stage.” Regardless of how well she might have played earlier, this moment left her red-faced. Speaking to the show’s social media correspondent afterwards, she said that she didn’t remember that moment all too well.

“I’m very excited. I’m pretty sure I blacked out. I don’t remember what I said. I heard there was some singing on the table stuff,” she said. “I just remember I couldn’t believe it.” Despite the mishap, Getahun was able to recover enough to make it through to the Bonus Round, where she had chosen the What Are You Doing category, and got the letters R, S, T, L, N, and E.

She now had to pick three consonants and one vowel. The contestant decided to go with the letters W, D, G, and I. After these were revealed, the puzzle read, “_R_ _TI_ING   G_IT_R   _ _ _RDS.” Her 10 seconds started counting down, and she blurted out, “Straightening guitar chords. Stringing guitar chords.” However, neither of those two was the correct answer.

Her time ran out, and it was revealed that she got the last two words right. However, the first word was ‘practicing,’ meaning that the correct answer to the puzzle was ‘practicing guitar chords.’ She could have won an additional $40,000 had she gotten it right. However, she wasn’t too disappointed as she had still won $19,500, which is a big sum of money.