Birthday boy groans as he misses out on luxury car after failing to solve tough ‘Wheel of Fortune’ puzzle
On an episode of the fan-favorite show ‘Wheel of Fortune’ that aired on May 29, contestant Ray Wilson, of Atlanta, Georgia, had an emotional rollercoaster of a day. Wilson, who was celebrating his birthday, had a great run, accumulating a significant amount of cash in prizes as he competed against Emily Nichols of Naples, Florida, and Mike Rowitz of Bokeelia, Florida. His luck, however, took a heartbreaking turn in the Bonus Round. Failing to crack his final puzzle, Ray lost out on a luxury car.
Heading into the Bonus Round, Wilson had $23,398 in cash and a cruise to the Great Lakes. On the other hand, Nichols, who attends swamp buggy races, walked away with $21,950. Meanwhile, Rowitz, a stadium enthusiast, left the show with $2,000. Wilson was then joined on stage by his childhood friend, Crystal, for support. Talking about his friend, Wilson said, "She's my good luck charm for sure." When host Ryan Seacrest asked Wilson to pick a category for his Bonus Round puzzle, he chose “What are you doing?”
After spinning the wheel, Wilson was handed the Golden Envelope, and in front of him was a four-word puzzle. With the show's standard letters R, S, T, L, N, and E on the board, Wilson went on to choose the letters G, M, C, and A as his additional letters to round out his puzzle. Eventually, Wilson's Bonus Round puzzle looked like “C_ _ _ _NG _ _ AT _ _ME.” As Seacrest began the ten-second timer, Wilson yelled out a few guesses, including “Cooking Up At Home,” “Cooking It at Home,” but none of them were correct.
After the timer ran out, Seacrest's co-host Vanna White revealed that the correct answer was “Cozying Up At Home." Seacrest opened the Golden Envelope to show what Wilson had just missed out on: a brand new Lincoln. Amid gasps of disbelief from the crowd, Seacrest told Wilson, “Happy birthday! $23,398. Great to meet you.” The unfortunate outcome on Wilson's birthday invited several comments from social media users. "Happy birthday Ray! The car would've been a nice present though," one user wrote.
Speaking about the puzzle, another user went on to write, “Every letter that was in the puzzle for Ray was not enough, and that was not a blown bonus round puzzle; that was a tough puzzle, even though Ray did everything he could." A third user wrote, “Well, no car winner today, but Ray did well with 23k. Cozying is tough." Another 'Wheel of Fortune' fan remarked, “This was a toughie. I wouldn’t have gotten it at all, even if all my letters were correct. This one is meant to be a true brain stumper." A fourth user commented, "We had a tough list tonight: LIVING THING/WHAT ARE YOU DOING/PHRASE. Ray commits the cardinal sin of picking two wasted letter picks. The puzzle itself in WHAT ARE YOU DOING was very hard."