One contestant’s mistake on Wheel of Fortune during the bonus round left even host Ryan Seacrest puzzled.
On the episode aired on November 18, Joey Sweet, a program director from Oceanside, California, came heartbreakingly close to winning a $40,000 prize. The category was ‘phrase,’ and Sweet had almost completed the puzzle when he made his guess.
The puzzle displayed, ‘CA_ED’ ‘_ _’ ‘_AND,’ after Sweet chose the letters C, D, M, and A, along with an additional letter ‘F’ from his Wild Card. The young contestant’s guess, ‘Cleared in hand,’ seemed logical at first, but as the timer ran out, there was no correct answer. The actual solution was ‘Carved By Hand’ — a challenging answer that left both Sweet and viewers feeling frustrated.
Even Vanna White, who had been eagerly anticipating the reveal, raised her hands in disappointment after the wrong guess. Seacrest, who has been hosting the show since 2021, quickly offered words of comfort. ‘You were on the right track. This is a tricky one,’ he said, addressing Sweet directly. He then opened the gold prize card to show the $40,000 that Sweet had just missed, but Seacrest continued, ‘Tough one,’ he noted, adding, ‘Even with the head start,’ in reference to Sweet’s Wild Card wedge.
Even though he missed out on the grand prize, Sweet kept a positive attitude and was gracious. “It’s all good!” he replied, demonstrating to the audience that he wasn’t letting the challenging puzzle bring him down. He left with a prize package valued at over $16,000 in cash and a trip to Mexico, which served as a nice consolation prize.
The puzzling moment quickly gained traction after a clip of the game was uploaded to YouTube. Fans rushed to the comments to share their thoughts on how tough the puzzle had been. “I doubt I would have figured that out unless I picked the right letters. What a tricky one!” one viewer commented. Another fan noted that “By” is frequently a tough word to guess in the bonus round, and many concurred. The discussion continued on social media, with one user on X (formerly Twitter) stating, “To be fair, ‘By’ is a tough word to come up with when considering 2-letter words on Wheel. #WheelOfFortune.”
This mistake came right after a comparable viral incident from the week before when Will Jordan, a police officer in Connecticut, gained media attention for his outrageous guess, “Treat yourself to a round of sausages.” However, the actual answer was “Give yourself a round of applause.” As these amusing blunders keep entertaining the online community, one thing is clear: Wheel of Fortune consistently provides surprising moments.
