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Woman's whimsical and wildly incorrect 'Wheel of Fortune' guess is the best game show fail

Shrek would be proud.

@Rick_Life_Coach/X

Can you solve this "Wheel of Fortune" puzzle?

Is there any game show that allows contestants to royally embarrass themselves on national TV quite like Wheel of Fortune? There’s always someone going viral for taking a big swing and missing on a phrase that seemed pretty apparent to the casual viewer. And when you take a big loss on aWOF word puzzle, there are a lot of folks shaking their heads at home. More than 8 million people watch the game show every night. Yikes.

One rather notorious of the wheel was Gishma Tabari from Encino, California, whose fantasy-inspired whiff of a common phrase back in 2023 earned her a lot of groans and some support from those who thought her imagination was inspiring. The 3-word puzzle read: “TH _ _ RITI _ S _ GR _ E,” and Tabari offered the answer, “The British Ogre.” The guess surprised host Pat Sajak, who responded, "Uh, no.” Tabari must have missed that there was a space between the R and the E in the puzzle, so ogre would have had to be spelled with 2 Rs.

She also probably wasn’t aware that England isn’t a place known for its ogres. The correct answer was: “The Critics Agree.”

The answer inspired a lot of activity on X, where people couldn’t believe someone could come up with such a fanciful answer to a puzzle with such a straightforward solution.







One person even created a lovely image of what could be the British Ogre.

Although…not everyone had a problem with the guess.

"OK, the puzzle was clearly THE CRITICS AGREE but to be honest I prefer THE BRITISH OGRE because the puzzles could use some more wacky originality sometimes.#WheelOfFortune"— Pasha Paterson (@zer0bandwidth) December 13, 2023

On the bright side, the incorrect guess is an opportunity for the world to learn that ogres aren’t a significant part of English folklore. Sure, there are characters in English myths and legends that have ogre-like qualities, such as Grendel from "Beowulf," the monstrous creature that terrorizes the mead hall of King Hrothgar. There’s also the Boggart, a mischievous spirit much like a hobgoblin and trolls, which appear in some English tales although they originate in Scandinavia.

If you’re looking for ogres in Europe, France is the best place to go.

- YouTubewww.youtube.com

The word ogre is of French descent and comes from the name of the Etruscan god of the underworld, Orcus. Orcus is a large, ugly, bearded giant who enjoys consuming human flesh. Ogres are primarily known for eating children, which they believe will give them eternal life.

As for Wheel of Fortune, the show will undergo significant changes over the next few years. The show’s host, Pat Sajak, 76, stepped down from the show at the end of the 2024 season after hosting it for 41 years. In September 2024, radio host and “American Idol” emcee Ryan Seacrest took over the hosting spot.

Although, it was just announced that Sajak would be making a special guest appearance on Celebrity Wheel of Fortune, performing what he called "Final Spin."

And in case you're wondering how Tabari is doing: on her Instagram she wears her "Wheel of Fortune Flub Girl" title with pride, declaring she is "British Ogre for life."

This article originally appeared two years ago.

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Watch Vanna White as a contestant on 'The Price is Right' before she became famous

Retro Warehouse/YouTube

Vanna White appeared on "The Price Is Right" in 1980.

Vanna White has been a household name in the United States for decades, which is kind of hilarious when you consider how she gained her fame and fortune. Since 1982, the former model and actress has made millions walking back and forth turning letters (and later simply touching them—yay technology) on the game show "Wheel of Fortune."

That's it. Walking back and forth in a pretty evening gown, flipping letters and clapping for contestants. More on that job in a minute…

As a member of Gen X, television game shows like "Wheel of Fortune" and "The Price is Right" send me straight back to my childhood. Watching this clip from 1980 of Vanna White competing on "The Price is Right" two years before she started turning letters on "Wheel of Fortune" is like stepping into a time machine. Bob Barker's voice, the theme music, the sound effects—I swear I'm home from school sick, lying on the ugly flowered couch with my mom checking my forehead and bringing me Tang.

This video has it all: the early '80s hairstyles, a fresh-faced Vanna White and Bob Barker's casual sexism that would never in a million years fly today.

Vanna White on The Price Is Right (June 20, 1980)www.youtube.com

Vanna was clearly not skilled at guessing prices. In fact, she was pretty terrible at it. But as it turned out, she didn't need to know how much things cost since she ended up basically winning the lottery with her job at "Wheel of Fortune."

Vanna White has made a 40-year career out of wearing dresses, smiling and clapping. That's it. She only works four days a month—not four days a week, four days a month—doing what is arguably the world's easiest and least necessary job. And she earns $10 million a year doing it.

Sometimes this world we humans have created just makes no sense.

Not that I blame Vanna White. If someone offered to pay me $10 million a year to look fabulous in a gown and heels and touch letters and clap for four days a month, I'd do it in a heartbeat. (The clapping is a bigger part of the job than you might think. She actually holds a Guinness World Record for clapping. Seriously.)

I'm sure she's very nice. And she has a charitable yarn line, so that's neat. It's great that she's still going strong and looking amazing at age 64.

I just can't get over how much she makes for how little she does at a superfluous job. I'm not sure who even watches "Wheel of Fortune" these days, but clearly someone does because that's the only way to possibly justify Vanna White's existence in the working world. (Sorry, "working" world.) Are "Wheel of Fortune" viewers all people older than me? They must be because until recently I didn't even know these game shows were still running on network television.

Congrats on being the luckiest human on the planet, Vanna, despite your not making it past the first round of "The Price is Right" in your 20s. May all of our fates be met with such fortune.

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After 37 years, Vanna White finally got to host an episode of Wheel of Fortune

For 37 years, we've seen Vanna White glamorously and quietly turning the letters on Wheel of Fortune. During the show's history, she's worn over 6,700 gowns, and has clapped an average of 606 times a show. But until now, she's never hosted a full episode. Now, she's finally getting her turn to ask contestants if they'd like to buy a vowel.

Pat Sajak had an emergency surgery to correct a blocked intestine, leaving the show without a host. White was asked to step in, something she had never thought about. "I've never even thought of that in 37 years," White said in an interview, "and to be asked almost on the spot, 'How do you feel about hosting the show?' Like, what?!"

White will host the show for three weeks while Sajak recovers, although they won't air in that order.


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While White filled in for Sajak, Minnie Mouse filled in for White. White was nervous during the show, but did great despite only having a few hours to prepare. "I literally had a 30-minute rehearsal of hosting the game. I did one, and then we did the shows! I'm very green, let's put it that way," White told People Magazine. "I think for listening Pat for 37 years, I understood the game and how he hosted it. I was very familiar with the show."

Fans were excited to see White finally step behind the wheel.








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There have been jokes made that it took White 37 years to get a promotion, but there's a sad truth behind it. Hosting game shows has largely been left to men, with women relegated to standing on the side and looking pretty.

Hollywood Game Night host Jane Lynch said, "I'm always surprised" when to comes to how few female game show hosts there have been. "'Hollywood Game Night' might have started this revival, but there's still no more female hosts," Lynch told the Huffington Post. "I'm the only one. There's just kind of an inability to open up the mind, I think, to females hosting things."

Meredith Vieira was able to have a lengthy run as the host of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, serving as host from 2002 to 2013. However, female gameshow hosts have been few and far between. When British show The Weakest Link was turned into American TV, Anne Robinson hosted the American version for only one year.

White says that women should be able to host game shows, too, even if "you don't see a lot of it." Gameshow hosts shouldn't be limited to the likes of Pat Sajak. "Everybody's entitled to host the show: female, male, everyone," White said. "It would be fun to see more women up there doing that. If that's what they want to do."

Even if we don't see more of White donning the hosting duties, hopefully we'll see more female gameshow hosts in the future.

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