Usually, thinking too much is a bad strategy on game shows. With time restrictions and other players competing against you, being overly cautious is not the move. You have to be willing to buzz in, sometimes before you’re one hundred percent confident. Now and again, however, that over-eagerness can backfire in spectacular fashion like, for example, if you’re on Wheel Of Fortune and blurt out something extremely dirty while trying to solve the puzzle.
That’s what happened to Tavaris, a contestant earlier this week on the long-running hit game show. The category was “Phrase” and with only a few letters in place, he got a little prematurely excited, buzzed in and went with “Right In The Butt.” Apart from the first word being one letter too long, it wasn’t the worst guess in the world, but it elicited a shocked reaction from the crowd and an audible “WHAT?” from one of his fellow players. You can check out the moment, which is going mega-viral below…
Now, let’s be honest here for a second. This is not the worst Wheel Of Fortune answer we’ll even see this week. At least one out of every three episodes features a contestant guessing a phrase that’s not even remotely possible based on the letters in play. His answer technically doesn’t fit, but it’s really not that far off. That being said, anytime you add in a sexual reference or something dirty, the clip is way more likely to go viral, even if the guess isn’t that far off. For example: one time Jeopardy asked for a gardening tool that also means an immoral pleasure seeker, and Ken Jennings said “hoe” instead of “rake.” That was more than a decade ago, and the clip still trends now and again.
Fortunately, as the history of game shows tells us, Tavaris will be off the hook in a few weeks when someone else either guesses something dirty or is hilariously off on their attempt. The latest viral game show moment is always less than a month away, and if nothing else, he’ll at least have a hilarious story for the rest of his life.
As for Wheel Of Fortune, the show is about to undergo its first significant changes in decades. Longtime host Pat Sajak will be stepping aside. Ryan Seacrest will take his place, and after some nervous contract negotiations, we now know Vanna White will stick it out and continue in her duties. I’ll miss Pat for sure, but I’m also excited for the new team and the inevitable viral moments that’ll keep coming.