Contestants get all twisted up over the word pedal, a breakdown
What Happened
On the long-running game show Wheel of Fortune, contestants Sean, Michelle, and another player named Sean face a puzzle that quickly spins out of control. As the round begins, the first two contestants, both named Sean, repeatedly go bankrupt, unable to correctly guess any of the letters in the puzzle. Michelle steps up next and also fails to solve the puzzle, though she manages to avoid going bankrupt. The hosts, Pat Sajak and Vanna White, seem perplexed by the contestants' struggles, with Sajak even letting out a laugh at one point. The puzzle remains unsolved as the round passes back to the first Sean, who is once again unable to provide a correct guess. Finally, it's Michelle's turn again, and she confidently announces a "B" as her letter choice. This proves to be the breakthrough, as the puzzle is revealed to contain the word "pedal." However, the contestants have been consistently guessing "paddle" instead, unable to recognize the difference between the two similar-sounding words. Sajak gently points out the contestants' mistake, noting that "pedal" contains two Ds, an L, and an E - a significantly different spelling from "paddle." The players seem flustered, with one contestant hesitantly suggesting he'd "like to solve" the puzzle, but not sounding confident enough to do so. Michelle ultimately decides to spin again rather than attempt to solve the puzzle. The next contestant, Sean, guesses a "W," eliciting laughter from the audience and the hosts. Sajak then encourages Sean to go ahead and solve the puzzle, and he correctly guesses "renting a pedal boat." The summary ends with Sajak acknowledging the contestants' struggles, noting that they were "a little bit on the not smart side when it comes to this specific puzzle," but expressing confidence that they are likely "very smart in their own walks of life." The moment serves as a humorous example of the occasional mishaps that can occur on the long-running game show.
Full Transcript
Click timestamps to jump to that momentwe had another wheel of fortune mishap
and here's the context everyone's going
bankrupt sean with two ends is that two
ends sean bankrupt michelle
bankrupt no one's getting any chances to
guess sean with two ends again bankrupt
that is two n's s-e-a-n-n michelle
again bankrupt she's like geez okay i'm
just trying to play here she spins again
she's finally not going to go bankrupt
she gets to guess a lot
d
nailed it
n
k
i'm afraid not there's no k now why did
why did why did pat laugh at that okay
why is that why is that so funny
afraid not it's okay g
so it gets passed to michelle i
a lots of a's
s
no no
no s
and back to sean nana and he's bankrupt
tough break so we're going to go to
michelle
and she's going to take us home
b
nailed it
absolutely got it why
no
p
where did you think the y could have
been de maybe this was like she thought
this might have been ending in day
i don't see a y over here i don't see a
y there a yeah maybe maybe that's what
we thought we get a p oh
i'd like to solve okay renting a paddle
boat no that is not correct
now that's not correct because paddle
has two d's an l and an e so it need to
be p
and this would be an a
because a is already out and there'd be
two d's and there'd be an l and there'd
be another letter that's how you spell
paddle
you know it could just be a
pronunciation thing which it probably is
t
he's not confident enough to solve he
wants more letters
i like to buy an e
mm-hmm
he's like okay why don't you just solve
though are you spending money to get
this when i like to solve yeah renting a
paddle boat no
no you said the same thing that she said
and she's gonna laugh right in your face
now
michelle that's an evil laugh
michelle
michelle you have three thousand dollars
you can spin again but you don't have to
ah
m
ah
am
no no no
i have to spin
now here's where it gets bizarre because
obviously everyone's in their own head
they're like how could it not be pedal
boat but they're just saying the word
paddle instead of pedal and they can't
correct that in their brain
so she's gonna guess
w
w
renting a
p dawg
[Laughter]
renting a padawa boat
listen listen
listen to the crowd in the background w
oh
no shawn what do you want to solve go
ahead
renting a pedal boat yeah
yeah everybody's been saying paddle and
that changes your paddle boat's a little
different thing a pedal boat you got
those anyway anyway another bad round
here and i'm gonna have to defend our
contestants again for being a little bit
on the not smart side
when it comes to this specific puzzle
i'm sure they're very smart in their
particular walk i'm sure they're very
smart in their own walks of life but
yeah it was not paddle
it was pedal and it was not padaw
or padam