‘Wheel of Fortune’: 7 Wildest & Wackiest Moments on the Game Show (VIDEO)

Dan Clarendon March 28, 2023, 3:00 pm

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Vanna White and Pat Sajak on 'Celebrity Wheel of Fortune' — Eric McCandless/ABC

We’ve seen some epic fails on Wheel of Fortune, but what moments had our heads spinning faster than that 2,400-lb. wheel itself?

Now that we’ve see host Pat Sajak literally wrestle a contestant on the long-running, syndicated game show — details and footage below — we’re rounding up several other Wheel of Fortune episodes that made a buzz.

In some cases, the contestants’ wit had Sajak and co-host Vanna White speechless. In other cases, viewers might have wished Sajak had just stayed quiet! And in one memorable moment from the show’s 48-year-history, a Bonus Round player got her prize weeks after her turn on the game show, thanks to some hashtag activism.

Alex Trebek takes the Wheel

White and Sajak took turns as Wheel of Fortune contestants for the game show’s April 1, 1997, episode — while then-Jeopardy! host Alex Trebek played emcee. (Trebek, ever the quizmaster, told viewers, “I’ll leave you to figure out why I’m here today.”) And as a bonus, Sajak’s wife filled in for White at the puzzle board.

Oh, baby (buggy)!

Emil De Leon only had the first two letters of a 12-letter puzzle uncovered during his 2014 Bonus Round, but he got “new baby buggy” on his very first guess, much to the shock of everyone involved. (Sajak even patted De Leon down, jokingly checking for wires.) De Leon later explained to Ellen DeGeneres that the “NE” made him guess “new,” and “new baby” made him guess “new baby buggy.”

A “once-in-a-lifetime introduction”

Contestant Blair Davis had Sajak cackling with his introduction of his family in a 2019 episode, saying, “I’ve been trapped in a loveless marriage for the last 12 years to an old battleaxe named Kim. She cursed my life with three stepchildren … and I have one rotten grandson.”

Davis, of course, was being facetious. “It’s a once-in-a-lifetime experience, and I wanted to give them a once-in-a-lifetime introduction,” he later told Inside Edition (as that “rotten” grandson, Noah, crashed the interview).

Spoiler, quite frankly

In a 2021 episode, the letters contestant Jeffrey Knight guessed for the Bonus Round didn’t uncover much of the answer, and Sajak quipped, “I’d rather be standing here than there, quite frankly.”

Trouble was, “quite frankly” was the solution. Knight, however, still missed out on the big prize. “It goes to show you that people are concentrating and not paying any attention to me,” Sajak told White after the flub.

Charlene gets her Q3

Though she missed out on an Audi Q3 on a technicality — she paused too long in her Bonus Round response, Sajak explained — contestant Charlene Rubush got the car anyway after the resulting social media campaign got Audi’s attention. “You’re a winner in our eyes, Charlene. Now, let’s get you a prize. Time to #GiveHerTheQ3,” the car company tweeted. A month later, Audi tweeted a photo of Rubush with her new set of wheels.

You all did it! You helped #GiveHerTheQ3. Charlene, welcome to the Audi family! We are so happy to see you in the driver seat. https://t.co/9RVPcdtqu2 pic.twitter.com/B3GGNPPmlR

— Audi USA (@Audi) January 20, 2022

$100,000, times three

Sajak walked off the Wheel of Fortune set in 2022 after contestant Bree Yokouchi won $100,000 in the Bonus Round. Why? Because Yokouchi was the third consecutive Bonus Round player to win the $100k prize on the game show. “Even after almost 40 years, new things happen around here,” Sajak said on the show that week.

“The most pointless story ever told”

The following month, Sajak seemed to be exasperated again — and for real this time — when contestant Scott Ingwersen told a story about having his toe reattached after a biking accident at age 12. “That may have been the most pointless story ever told,” the host snarked, with palpable derision. “And you told it, Scott. Congratulations to you.”

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Attack of the Sajak

After drama teacher and professional wrestler Fred Fletcher-Jackson ran a perfect game on the show, Sajak showed off his own wrestling moves, pinning the man’s arm behind his back.

“Genuinely, I was trying to counter his hammer lock that he had me in,” Fletcher-Jackson said in a Wheel of Fortune Instagram video. “I was trying to get behind him, and I wasn’t going anywhere.”