Wheel of Fortune has been a wild ride thus far this calendar year, and even though some truly crazy moments have happened, this latest one likely takes the sausage.
Unlike every human in America who had the pleasure of watching the episode that aired on Veteran’s Day, host Ryan Seacrest somehow did not laugh out loud or utter a casual “Umm, what?!” Perhaps it’s because the most gut-wrenching moment that Seacrest had to be a part of was significantly more dramatic, unlike this moment which just hilariously bizarre.
During Seacrest’s second week as host, a contestant had a golden opportunity to be the first million dollar winner on Wheel of Fortune in a decade. A series of events have to happen throughout the game for anyone to even have a chance at that sum, and those events did indeed happen. When the final puzzle arrived, she couldn’t solve it.
Monday night’s episode, which featured veterans, also had a a heartbreaking finish which involved the winner not being able to solve the final puzzle. However, her costly error was overshadowed by Connecticut police officer Will Jordan, who may have had one of the toughest nights in Wheel history.
For some reason, he kept guessing the letter K. On three different occasions, he faced the exact same situation — a puzzle with just two letters missing. In all three cases, he asked for a “K” which was clearly wrong in two of them but, in one puzzle, there was indeed a “K.” Even so, he couldn’t solve it initially but neither could the others, so he eventually did get it right on a second try.
Yet, the madness all started with a puzzle that has since been shared throughout social media. Will had a chance to solve a phrase that most people watching were likely already able to solve. He gave it a shot and guessed, substituting the opening 4-letter word with a 5-letter word, creating a broken sentence in order for his solution to fit, and despite the last word beginning with an “A”, he decided it should begin with an “S.”
The puzzle was, “Give yourself a round of applause,” but Will guessed the rather humorous, “Treat yourself a round of sausage.” Ryan Seacrest offered no laughter, just stayed professional as he didn’t want to further embarrass him.
Afterwards, Will told Maggie Sajak, “When the lights are on and, you know, the stars and Ryan Seacrest and Vanna White — I just went blank.” Will’s guess is not as eye-opening as a one given during a speed round from earlier this year, when a contestant thought a puzzle for, “This is the best,” was going to reveal itself as something else entirely and buzzed in to offer, “Right in the butt.”
Unlike Jordan’s sausage inspired guess, this one made another contestant exclaim, “What?!”
Despite the night to forget which everyone will remember, Will is already making the best of it. He’s using his moment of fame to raise money for a local food bank and also told a local news station he “want[s] to bring awareness to these veterans and if I can take this two seconds of just being in the spotlight and really shine a light on them — that’s my mission moving forward.”
Will’s great sense of humor was evident afterwards also when he told Maaggie Sajak, “I’m sure I’m gonna have sausages in my locker and in my police car when I get back, so we’ll try to have some fun with it.”