'Wheel of Fortune' player fails to solve easy puzzle for $45,000 — fans call it 'major wipeout'
"Wheel of Fortune" fans have been used to the frustration of seeing bonus round losses, and were once again left disappointed after a Coast Guard veteran lost out on taking home a big $63,000 prize. The contestant, Josh Post, who participated in the show's "Veterans' Week," left the host, Ryan Seacrest, stunned after making a phenomenal comeback to reach the bonus round. However, the pressure finally got to him as he failed to crack a seemingly easy puzzle in the finale that cost him $45,000.
Post struggled to get off the mark initially as his competitor Graham took the early lead. However, after landing on the Bankrupt wedge, Graham lost everything. Going into the Mystery Round, Post had nothing in his bank while another player, Arlene, had amassed over $9,000. But Post made a strong comeback as he came out of the round with $6,400 and a Wild Card. Going into the Express Round, Post used the momentum to crack the puzzle to win a trip to Montenegro with a stay at the New Hotel Mediteran, worth $8,973, as per Andy Nguyen's blog. After the Triple Toss Up and the Speed round, Post emerged as the big winner of the night with prizes and cash worth $18,573.
Advancing to the Bonus Round, he chose the category "People" for his final puzzle. "Going into the mystery round, you had $0. And, now you've got $18,573, and you've got that wild card," Seacrest said as he welcomed Post to the wheel. Before collecting his Golden Envelope, Post introduced his sister Melissa and niece Alexis, who were on the stage to cheer him. Moving to the center, he then faced a two-word puzzle on the board.
With the show's standard letters, "R, S, T, L, N, E," on the board, he chose "C, D, M, and A" as his additional letters and the extra letter "Y" using his Wild Card. However, his letter picks didn't give him many clues as the puzzle read, "_ _ C _ E Y _ A N S." While the puzzle looked solvable, Post seemed to be stumped after Seacrest kicked off the ten-second timer. He yelled out bizarre guesses like, "MACEY, FANS," before coming up with "JUICY FANS" at the last second. Co-host Vanna White then uncovered the answer, "Hockey Fans", leaving the player disappointed.
Adding to his dismay, Seacrest revealed that Post missed out on taking home an additional $45,000. While the player wasn't happy with the loss, fans didn't mince their words while calling out the flub. "MAJOR WIPEOUT," wrote @christianwickham6288 in the comments on YouTube. "HOW DID YOU NOT GET THAT?!?!" exclaimed another fan, @JOEY_YAMAN.
"I got it after the letter selection. This guy must not have been a sports person because all those letters were great choices," added @lunamelody2025.
You can watch the thrilling turn of events in the video here.
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