‘Wheel of Fortune’ player fumbles puzzle 4 times in a row — loses $62K after repeating bizarre wrong answer
A 'Wheel of Fortune' contestant's comically incorrect response from a recent episode has gone viral. Minneapolis, Minnesota native Derek Stutz couldn't guess the difference between 'Venison Sausage' and 'Vienna Sausage' during the Triple-Toss round and ended up losing to his opponent. The game shared the epic moment on its official Instagram page with the caption, "Double trouble for today's Missolve Monday!" The contestant chose the "Food & Drink" category, during which the puzzle board read: “_ _ _E _ _ _F,” Stutz guessed “Meat Loaf.” However, it was the wrong answer. It then passed on to Rosemary Underwood, an Arizona native. She got it right by answering, “Kobe Beef”.
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She then went on to solve the second one, “Beluga Caviar." During the last puzzle, Stutz shared his enthusiasm and read out the wrong answer by looking at the incomplete puzzle: “V_ _ _ _A S_U_ _GE.” He guessed "Venison Sausage", the round passed to Underwood, and she revealed the correct answer, "Vienna Sausage." Fans couldn't keep calm over Stutz's verbal gaffe, "This guy was too relaxed for those to be unintentional mess-ups," a viewer sarcastically commented under the Instagram video. "Can tell you're from MN when Venison rolls off the tongue just to get a guess in," a fan wrote in jest. "Lol went in with the strategy to at least get a guess in!" an online user joked.
Since Underwood guessed the three tossups right, she earned $10,000. The grandmother of seven had already won $1,000 in the last round. The third contestant, a track athlete named Vicki Byrd, from Hanover, Maryland, made $4,550 in total. However, Stutz remained in the lead with $14,250; additionally, he also won a luxurious trip to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. The motorcycle enthusiast went on to solve the final round puzzle, and his total jumped to $22,250, which advanced him to the Bonus Round. Underwood walked away with $11,000, and Byrd took home $4,550.
Right before he could spin the wheel, Stutz sweetly introduced his grandmother, who had been cheering for him from backstage, to host Ryan Seacrest. After which Stutz chose a four-word puzzle under the “What Are You Doing?” category, he went on to select the additional letters “H, P, D, and A” to go with the standard letters of “R, S, T, L, N, and E" given on the puzzle board. The board then read: “_ A _ T _ N G / _ _ R / A / P A _ _ A G E.” Stutz went into a guessing spree before the ten-second buzzer went off. He guessed the puzzle as “Waiting Our Package,” then “Painting Our Package,” “Staying Out Package,” and “Taking Our Package.” Unfortunately, he turned a blind eye to the letter “A” which came right after "Our" each time.
Vanna White later revealed the right answer as “Waiting For A Package.” Stutz looked visibly dejected as Seacrest opened the golden envelope and announced that he’d missed out on $40,000. However, Stutz went home with a total of $22,250 and a lavish trip. Reddit users pointed out his silly mistake on a discussion thread, "This was definitely an example of the pressure of TV and just having a total brain fart. He probably sees this puzzle in his sleep now," a viewer hilariously trolled. "Yeah, you could just feel his brain getting lost as soon as he said “waiting our package.” That’s what made it so painful for me. It was like a 10-second train wreck," a fan made fun. "Yeah, I was thinking, 'how does he not see “A” there”???? And to make matters worse, he tried to solve it 4 times with 3 words instead of 4, despite the perfect setup to win," a netizen chimed in.