A Wheel of Fortune blooper went viral when a participant gave the hilariously incorrect answer.
During a holiday-themed program airing on December 17, contestant Phil McManus made a hilarious blunder. McManus, from Palmer, Mass., was confident as he attempted to answer a “Same Letter” puzzle. When the board next to Vanna White read “Chocolate, Chestnuts, and Chi_ne,” presenter Ryan Seacrest asked McManus if he wanted to solve the puzzle, which featured only holiday-related words, or spin the wheel.
McManus opted to solve the three-word puzzle by replying, “Chocolate, Chestnuts, and Chickens.” Following his guess, a competitor named Matt Komma of Riverton, Utah, gave the correct answer: “Chocolate, Chestnuts, and Chimneys.” Komma earned $4,200, but McManus lost $9,550 for his erroneous response.
Viewers quickly flocked to social media to mock McManus over the blunder.
“That was my shopping list last weekend,” one X (previously Twitter) user quipped, and another viewer said on Instagram, “I was screaming at the TV.”
In the same Instagram thread, another user posted, “I laughed so loud that my deaf dog jumped out of her bed.”
Despite his incorrect response, McManus’s appearance on the show marked a significant milestone in his life. He revealed to Seacrest, 49, and viewers that he received a cancer diagnosis two years ago and was faced with a death sentence. He stated that following his diagnosis, he created a bucket list consisting of three items: attending a Blink-182 reunion performance, attending WrestleMania, and visiting Disneyland.
“I’d never been to Disneyland, and I went there last night for the first time,” he added, adding that he is now in remission.
McManus is not the first competitor to have a viral flop on the renowned game show. On the November 11 program, a competitor called Will tried to solve the riddle “Give yourself a round of applause” with “Treat yourself to a round of sausage,” according to a video uploaded on X.
Following Will’s “missolve,” Katina, his fellow contender, properly responded.
“Will, I kind of like yours better,” Seacrest said later, adding, “That sounds better than just clapping right now.”
