‘Wheel of Fortune’ player loses prize money despite knowing the answer after Ryan Seacrest's on-air flub
'Wheel of Fortune' fans were disappointed after a contestant missed out on $10,000 due to what they believe was Ryan Seacrest's mistake. During an episode of 'Wheel of Fortune' Season 43, which aired on September 16, Pia Wilson, a teacher from Dallas, Texas, ran short of time while solving her final puzzle. But what caught the attention of fans was that Wilson knew the answer, and the reason she ran out of time was that she waited for Seacrest to finish talking.
Before making her way to the final puzzle on 'Wheel of Fortune', Wilson managed to crack two of the three Triple Toss Ups, adding $4,000 to her bank account. When Seacrest asked Wilson to pick a category for her final puzzle, she chose, "What Time Is It?” After spinning the wheel, Wilson landed on $700. Then, Wilson guessed 'T' first; the letter appeared four times in the puzzle, and she bagged $6,800. However, after guessing the consonant 'M' correctly, the 'Only Vowels' bell sounded. At that point, Wilson had $10,200 in her bank account.
When the buzzer went off, Seacrest said, “Vowels only at this point. Just guessing vowels.” Wilson was about to guess 'A', but her three-second timer ran out, and her opponent got the chance to solve the puzzle, "At The Last Minute," emerging as the winner of the round. Wilson seemed upset as she failed to solve the puzzle in time, but several fans pointed out that she wasn't informed about when the timer started. During the round, fans felt that Seacrest talked through the three seconds, and Wilson didn't get a chance to crack the puzzle. Ultimately, Wilson walked away from the show with $4,000.
After the episode dropped, several fans took to Reddit to express their frustration over Wilson's situation. A user who claimed to be at the episode's filming shared, “Was at the taping for today’s show back in April. There was indeed controversy at the end of the Speed Up. Pia was taken aback by the only vowels left sound and appeared to be waiting for Ryan to finish explaining what it meant, though she had the puzzle figured out.”
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The user further added, “Ryan asked her after the cameras stopped rolling if she knew it, and she indicated that she did. A group quickly gathered around her, and after some discussion, it was decided that they would play an additional $2500 Top Dollar Value spinning round that wouldn’t count in the standings, where Pia would start, and 3 consonants would be revealed before the first spin. In the end, she won that round. Had never heard of anything like that happening before.” A second user penned, “Yes! I was shocked. The timer shouldn’t start until he stops talking.” Another netizen went on to say, “Just horrible. I feel so bad for her! Ryan really screwed up this time 😒." A fan remarked, "Totally robbed, she has no time at all.”
