One Wheel of Fortune contestant cost themselves a trip to Disney World after an error that made the audience groan. This caused his opponent to win the game and land $67,000 after the Bonus Round.
James Mulaney, from New York, New York, played against Elsie Pierce, a game show enthusiast, from Secaucus, New Jersey, and Aerial Turner, a probation officer, from Detroit, Michigan, on Friday, April 25. Mulaney is a professional drag entertainer, who likes to take people out of their mundane lives.
He also shared that he played this game for his grandmother who recently died. She used to watch Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy! every night, and no one was allowed to call her from 7pm to 8pm when they were on. One week after she passed away, Mulaney saw a casting call for a Disney-themed Wheel of Fortune and he knew it was a sign from her to be on the show.
Throughout the game, Mulaney either guessed nothing or kept landing on Bankrupt, which didn’t give him any money in his bank. However, when it came time to solve the Prize Puzzle, he got on the board. In the category “Fun & Games,” the puzzle looked like “_L_ING ON A MAGIC CARPET.
With only two letters left, Mulaney guessed “B.” There wasn’t one in the puzzle, so after all of his hard work, the turn moved to Pierce, who solved the puzzle — “FLYING ON A MAGIC CARPET.”
Mulaney threw his hands up to his face and shook his head after he realized his mistake. “No, I’m sorry. No ‘B’,” host Ryan Seacrest said. “You did all that work, James.”
“Come on man!” one Reddit user wrote. “Prize puzzle Friday Today. I just can’t…. I can’t.”
After solving the puzzle, Pierce won a trip to Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Florida. Mulaney didn’t get on the board until the final puzzle— “Be our Guest! Be our Guest!” and won $3,000.
By the end of the game, Pierce had $27,427, a trip to Disney, and a Wild Card. Mulaney had $3,000. Turner went home with $6,450. Pierce advanced to the Bonus Round.
She chose “What are you doing?” for the Bonus Puzzle. After Wheel gave her “R,S,T,L,N, and E,” Pierce chose “P,M,F,O, and H,” due to the wild card.
Her puzzle then looked like “FLO_N_ER_N_ _ _O_T.” Before the buzzer counted down, Pierce solved “Floundering About.” She won an additional $40,000, to give her a grand total of $67,427.
Pierce screamed, clapped, and jumped at her win and then hugged Ryan Seacrest.
“I’m so happy,” she said with tears in her eyes.
“And you were fast,” Seacrest said.
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