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'Wheel of Fortune' contestant's hilarious fail at Christmas-themed puzzle has fans rolling

It was wrong in the best way.

@ACinPhilly/X

He'll never eat poultry again.

It’s hard to say which is more entertaining—epic game show wins…or hilarious game show fails. Wheel of Fortune has provided us plenty of both over the years, and this time, it delivered a funny defeat that just so happened to be holiday themed.

During the beloved game show’s Dec. 17 episode, a contestant named Phil McManus hailing from Palmer, Massachusetts, attempted to solve a puzzle in “Same Letter” category, with the board reading “Chocolate Chestnuts & Chi_ne_s.”

Declining to buy an "I," McManusdecided to go for gold and guessed “Chocolates, chestnuts and chickens.” And while I suppose you can enjoy chicken on Christmas, this was not the correct answer. Not to mention the “E” and “N” would have to be in a different spot. But hey, our eyes play tricks on us when under pressure!

This set up another contestant to name the correct answer (“Chocolates, chestnuts & chimneys”) and for Wheel of Fortune fans to have a field day.

It ain't a proper Christmas without poultry!, one person joked.

Another quipped., “That was my shopping list last weekend,” someone

Still another person said.“When I think of chocolates and chestnuts, the next word I think of is chickens.”

Meanwhile, someone on Instagram shared, “I laughed so loud that my deaf dog jumped out of her bed,”

Someone else asked,“Love Wheel of Fortune but where do these contestants come from?”

But again, we all make silly mistakes when we’re nervous. This moment actually harkens back to another puzzle solving mishap that happened only a month prior. Instead of guessing “Give yourself a round of applause,” the contestant, named Will, guessed, “Treat yourself a round of sausage.”

In a postmortem interview, he shared, “I tell you, when the lights are on, and you know, the stars and Ryan Seacrest, Vanna White, I just went blank."

Still, he was able to have a good laugh about it, and hopefully McManus was too. And of course, it’s not gonna keep us from screaming at the TV at home.

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'Wheel of Fortune' contestant dubbed 'best ever' after his instant $67,000 winning move

Pat Sajak was left speechless.

Wheel of Fortune/Youtube

Imagine winning that much money in milliseconds.

Over its decades-long syndication run, “Wheel of Fortune” has given audiences their fair share of epic wins (not to mention royally embarrassing misses). But regardless, seeing someone effortlessly wordsmith their way into winning big money never gets old.

And this big win came in a matter of milliseconds.

Alex Harrell, a father from Stafford, Virginia, who has served over nine years in the Marine Corps as an Osprey pilot, had already dominated the episode—racking up $27,105, a cruise and a trip to Aruba, per TV Insider.


This brought the young Marine to the Bonus round, where he selected the “Food and Drink” category and the letters “H, G, P and O.”

Up on the two-word puzzle screen, “T _ P _ O _ _ / P _ _ _ _ N G” appeared.

Before Pat Sajak is even able to say “if you need more time,” Harrell had his answer.

“Tapioca Pudding.”

Shaking his head in astonishment, Sajak opened the envelope to reveal Harrel won an additional $40,000, which gave him an overall total of $67,150, plus his trips.

“Way to go, Alex. Best contestant ever tonight!” wrote one viewer on YouTube.

Another added, “intense bonus round, he rocked it.”

Folks on X shared a similar sentiment.

One person wrote, “WOW!! Alex did Excellent!!! That’s the way we like it…and thank you for your service.”

Another seconded, “I'm assuming he's gonna go back to the Hyatt and roll around in the bed with all that dough.”

Now one has to wonder…does Harrell have a knack for words? Or is he just that big a fan of pudding? Either way, it paid off.

Watch his iconic win below:

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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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