'Wheel of Fortune' fans gasp as Ryan Seacrest builds suspense before elderly contestant loses car
After the first Bonus Round win since its return, "Wheel of Fortune" saw the first car loss of the 43rd season. The player, Jimmy Alexander, an elderly gentleman with a fondness for casinos, failed to win the gamble with his letter picks in the finale, as he couldn't crack the puzzle "Workbench." When it came to the show's host, Ryan Seacrest, revealing the prize concealed in Alexander's prize envelope, he built up suspense, scaring the fans into thinking it was $100,000. However, it was the Mazda MX-5 Miata that the player lost, which, to many, was no less heartbreaking.
In the episode, Alexander from Fredericksburg, Texas, went up against Rebecca Merkel from Hoover, Alabama, and Genvieve Martin from Coffeeville, Missouri. He proved age is just a number right from the get-go as he took the early lead by solving the first Toss Up puzzle. By the Express Round, Alexander had racked up $21,250 in cash while his closest competitor, Martin, could only get $3,300. However, she mounted a strong comeback in the Mystery Round by solving the prize puzzle to win a trip to the Scottish Highlands worth $10,000 and $8,400 in cash, according to Andy Nguyen's blog. However, Alexander didn't give up and kept cracking puzzles in the following rounds to emerge as the big winner of the night with $28,650.
Advancing to the Bonus Round, Alexander chose the unusual category, "Around the house," and joined Seacrest at the wheel. He brought his wife Felicia and daughters Lauren and Kristen to the stage to cheer him for the finale. After picking out his Golden Envelope, he was faced with a short single-word puzzle on the board. With the show's standard letters, "R, S, T, L, N, E" filled in, he chose "M, D, G, and O" as his additional letters. However, his picks didn't turn out to be great as only the 'O' was a part of the puzzle: "_OR_ _EN_ _."
When Seacrest wished Alexander good luck and kicked off the timer, it seemed like he was at a complete loss. With the clock ticking, he could not think of anything and failed to make a single guess. "Yeah, tough to come up with this," Seacrest said, after the time ran out. "How would you have gotten there? Huh?" Seacrest added after co-host Vanna White uncovered the answer. The host then took a peek at the Golden Envelope and then looked at the player to build suspense. He then revealed that Alexander had lost out on driving home the brand-new Mazda.
While the elderly contestant endured the big loss with a smile on his face, fans weren't happy with how Seacrest handled it. "Ryan scared me a bit, I thought it was going to be the $100,000," shared @chris.twentynine in the comments of the show's YouTube clip. On the other hand, some suggested the player could have picked better letters. "Surprisingly, I figured out the puzzle with Workbench. If Jimmy had chosen "B" & "H" then he probably would've got it," suggested @jacobwilson6192.
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