‘Wheel of Fortune’ Fans Want Game Change To End Ryan Seacrest ‘Curse’ Over Show (VIDEO)

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Wheel of Fortune’s new era with host Ryan Seacrest is going A-Okay according to fans, but even he has noticed an unfortunate on-air pattern: instead of big paydays, everyone seems to be going bankrupt.

Late last week, a fan started a Reddit thread about the perceived uptick in players landing on Bankrupt wedges. They titled it: “The amount of Bankrupts,” elaborating: “There are so many now! Anyone else notice this? It’s almost like they are timed…”

While “timing” bankrupt wedges or any sort of producer interference is unlikely (rigging game shows is illegal, in fact, see 1994 film Quiz Show) other fans replied that they actually do want producers to step in. Namely, to remove one bankrupt wedge from the wheel. The game show’s centerpiece has two bankrupt wedges.

“The wheel has one too many BANKRUPTS on it; pls remove one,” the top comment read.

“I’ve noticed SO many more,” wrote another. “This was what I came here to say! It’s almost like Ryan brought some bad mojo with him,” wrote a third. “I know he’s new and all but so far he doesn’t have the same rapport with contestants that Pat had. Pat was also much wittier.”

“It’s starting to annoy me how many bankrupts there are in a row. Of course who cares what I think,” vented a fourth. “My son and I counted 7 in a row one time recently. Annoying,” wrote a fifth.

“They used to only have one full-size Bankrupt on the Wheel in the first round, then added the second one starting with Round 2. In 2009, after the season with the first million dollar win, they made the second Bankrupt permanent,” remarked another.

One more fan argued that the issue may be the contestants (the Wheel centerpiece has not changed at all for the new season, it’s been the same wheel for 20 years).

“Contestants need to understand to vary the power they put into a spin,” they advised. “Spin fast, slow, medium, medium fast, medium slow. Mix it up, don’t do the same thing twice. Confuse the heck out of whoever watches if you are trying to get the big bucks.”

This just happened on Wheel of Fortune…

Unbelievable! pic.twitter.com/TJysPow03L

— Oh No He Didn’t (@ohnohedidnt24) September 18, 2024

That said, the Seacrest “curse” has become a running joke with Wheel watchers on social media. Ever since he made his big debut as Pat Sajak’s replacement on September 9, there have been a baffling number of bankrupt runs.

In the September 18 episode, Seacrest even quipped that there was some kind of curse going on when the three contestants were spinning during the Crossword Round, and each of them landing on “bankrupt” in three consecutive spins.

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“Should we have a conversation with this wheel?” Seacrest joked, before asking the wheel, “What are you doing to us?” The next turn, a player landed on a “lose your turn” prompting Seacrest to ask the group: “Who did something bad before they got here?”

As the bankrupts continued, Seacrest looked over at the iconic Vanna White and back at the players: “So, I’m new here. I’ve never seen anything like this before.”

The 49-year-old then urged a contestant named Brent to “break this curse,” however Brent landed on “lose a turn” yet again. The American Idol host fell over onto the setpiece and couldn’t hold back how stunned he was, turning to his co-host once more and pleading: “Vanna? What is going on?”