'Wheel of Fortune' player loses $40,000 due to bad choice of letters — but fans found it easy
The contestant, Brianne Peterson got extremely unlucky with her letter picks for the final puzzle.
Sept. 13 2025, Published 9:45 a.m. ET
"Wheel of Fortune" fans, along with the host, Ryan Seacrest, are often impressed by contestants who make solving puzzles look like a cakewalk. But when such players crash in the bonus round, everyone feels the pain. Brianne Peterson made it to the finale and had big hopes of taking home the grand prize. However, she was stumped by her choice of letters as she didn't have enough clues to solve the puzzle, where the answer was, "Giving Someone A Hug." Even Seacrest couldn't help but admit that she didn't have enough letters up there to get it right.
Peterson was off to a flying start, as she managed to take an early lead and kept the momentum going in the Express Round, where she cracked the puzzle to win an Alaskan Cruise trip and $17,900 in cash, according to Andy Nguyen's blog. However, her rival, Bailey, made a strong comeback in the following rounds but ended up as the runner-up with $16,300, as Peterson took the title of the big winner with $17,900 in cash and the cruise trip.
Advancing to the Bonus Round, Peterson chose the category "What are you doing?" and joined Seacrest at the wheel. She also brought along her wife and her mother-in-law to the stage for support. After spinning the wheel and picking out her prize envelope, she was faced with a long four-word puzzle. With the standard letters, "R, S, T, L, N, E," on the board, she chose "C, H, P, and A" as her additional letters. However, her letter picks did not give her more than one clue, and the letter "A" showed up once in the puzzle that read, "_ _ _ _ N _ S _ _ E _ N E A H _ _.
After Seacrest wished her good luck and kicked off the ten-second timer, it was clear that Peterson didn't have it figured out. She couldn't utter a word till the time ran out, prompting Seacrest to say, "Not enough up there, right? To get you there." Co-host Vanna White then uncovered the answer, and the host went on to add that it was "a tough one" before revealing that she had lost out on taking home an additional $40,000.
While the host consoled the player, calling the puzzle tough, fans were quick to point out that the puzzle seemed easy. "That was a gimme, and even if she didn't get it from RSTNLE, an I and a G from the category would have helped this time," claimed @BrakusJPSGameShows in the comments of the show's YouTube clip.
"Normally, I'm glad that someone doesn't call a G for a "what are you doing" puzzle because 9 times out of 10, the G in "ING" is the only one in the puzzle. But this time, the G would have helped," explained @millenniumbryan.
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