Wheel of Fortune Sees Best Solve Ever

Contestant solves puzzle with just two letters provided
By Evann Gastaldo,  Newser Staff
Posted Mar 20, 2014 6:21 AM CDT

America is suddenly abuzz about Wheel of Fortune again, and no, you haven't woken up in the '80s. Emil, a contestant on last night's show, had what appeared to be a nearly-impossible Bonus Puzzle to solve. After running the provided letters and his own guessed letters, only the first two letters (N and E) of the phrase showed up. Host Pat Sajak didn't seem too optimistic about Emil's chances. But the first words out of Emil's mouth during the 10 seconds he had to solve the puzzle—"new baby buggy"—were correct, winning him $45,000.

Sajak was obviously shocked, and later tweeted, "Tonight's Wheel of Fortune features most amazing solve in my 30+ years on the show. No kidding." Deadspin calls the solve "the Wheel of Fortune equivalent of a Hail Mary touchdown." And Guyism notes that there was a two- to three-second pause before Emil's correct answer showed up on the board, "because the Wheel of Fortune people were like, 'WTF just happened?!' Emil sees dead people, obviously." AV Club concurs: "This puzzle was not meant to be solved. This is the kind of puzzle that an executive producer slips into the mix when the show is pushing its prize budget for the month." (Fighting this solve in the "amazing" category: This one.)

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