Wheel of Fortune viewers were at a loss for words when a contestant lost the game and his shot at the bonus round—not by botching a puzzle, but by correctly solving it one letter too soon. Many fans blamed Ryan Seacrest’s lack of seasoned hosting for the truly head-spinning mistake.
The incident occurred on Tuesday, November 26, during the “Final Spin” puzzle. The wheel landed on the $5,000 wedge, and the audience went wild. This meant that consonants were worth $6,000 each, so the three-word “Event” puzzle would likely decide who’d win. After a few correct guesses from each player, Kathryn McWhorter from Arlington, Tennessee, who had $14,176 going in, correctly chose a “G.” At this juncture, it read as, “TOUR_NG ‘A’ ‘_ _ _ N_R_’.”
McWhorter got buzzed, and the next contestant, Oleh Voloshyn, who grew up watching the show in Ukraine and now lives in Maryland, had amassed $12,000 from it. If he chose one more consonant correctly, he’d get another $6,000 and $18,000 total to win the game. Instead, he decided to forgo calling a consonant and solved the puzzle correctly as “TOURING A WINERY.”
This left Voloshyn with $12,000 and $14,000 in total, while McWhorter, with her previous $14,176, won by a mere $176. This meant that his not picking one more consonant first made the difference. Seacrest turned to the players and gently told Voloshyn he was “just shy” of the bonus round.
Fans took social media in disbelief at the one-letter loss, with a fan dedicated a discussion on the WoF Reddit to the maddening moment titled, “Can’t believe what I just saw…”
They continued, “Instead of guessing a letter and getting an extra SIX THOUSAND DOLLARS, Oleh decided to solve right away on the last round??!?!?!??!? He just threw away so much money!!! FOR NO REASON. AND HE WOULD HAVE WON. WTF.”
Many others argued that Seacrest should have reminded the player he could choose one more letter as Pat Sajak always did so in this situation, instead of letting him fall in his sword in front of millions of people.
“Pat [Sajak] would have reminded him to guess a letter before solving,” one fan replied which got 20 upvotes.
“We were screaming at the screen!” wrote another.
“Why not ask for a W and sail into the bonus round? What a dummy!” wrote a third.
“I haven’t watched wheel of fortune in years and came to Reddit to find this…no situational awareness,” wrote a fourth.
“If I’m Oleh, I’m upset at myself for not realizing the situation…” wrote a fifth. “I’m also angry at Ryan for not doing something that Pat always made a point to do in this exact situation. It’s not the host’s job to point those types of things out but Pat always tried so now we expect it.”
“I was surprised by that too. I’m sure he was kicking himself when he realized…” wrote a sixth.
“Could Ryan not say something???” asked an additional fan.
“Exactly!” replied one more. “People do this all the time, or at least try to. Pat was great at always reminding them to call another letter first though. I’m pretty sure Ryan did the same thing in his first or second episode, which was passable since he was new. But now?”
A fan titled a separate Reddit thread about the incident, “Super frustrating,” adding, “I was so upset for Oleg tonight, why oh why didn’t you pick one of the letters for Touring a Winery rather than just solving!?! He would have won if he had poor guy.”
There, fans felt similarly, one writing, “Didn’t Pat used to say “do you want to guess a letter first”? I’ve noticed a couple times that Ryan does not do this. Not blaming Ryan. This was frustrating for my wife and I too.
“Ryan needs to start doing this,” one more fan surmised.
Meanwhile, Seacrest, of course, had huge shoes to fill replacing the legendary Sajak alongside the iconic Vanna White after four decades for Season 42. His debut month was the strongest ratings month for WoF in the past three years, and viewers were already treated to a viral moment (via a round of sausage). That said, there have been some other questionable hosting moments.
In September, Seacrest suffered what fans dubbed his “first blooper”, involving a prolonged reaction to rewarding a bonus round. Fans also called out the host for ruling against another player before the timer was up. Many fans also blamed a lack of experience on Seacrest’s mishandling of a contestant’s $1million wedge, which she instantly forfeited, the new host having not reminding her what was at stake.
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