Even though many of us likely see ourselves as being sub-geniuses when it comes to game shows, it's clearly a very different experience making guesses from home and making guesses in front of hosts, fellow contestants and millions of people watching at home. That can be a completely distinct and sometimes insurmountable kind of pressure for someone to face, which has been made evident time and time again across so many years of Wheel of Fortune episodes. The latest Wheel flub is a particularly hilarious blunder that had Twitter rolling with laughter and disbelief.
Below you can check out an episode clip from this week where one toss-up round puzzle led to the misidentification of one of the most brilliant mathematicians and physicists the world has ever known. Try not to judge her too harshly, since others have already done that for us.
Now, it's true that toss-up rounds can sometimes incite even more baffling guesses than usual, given the speediness and limited guess time. But it takes a certain kind of brainfart to attribute an additional first name to a historical figure, especially since she didn't even hesitate when blurting it out, as hinted at in the tweet below.
I mean, let's give the woman some credit. Alex chimed in ahead of everyone and was clearly certain that the final two words were "Isaac" and "Newton." So that's 66% of the success right there. It's just that other 33% that fell behind. But if she'd just given ol' Tom Newton his knighthood, it might have worked, right?
Nah, probably not. So in that case, I guess we should be giving resident cool guy Pat Sajak some of the credit here for instinctively just denying her answer and moving on, as opposed to dead-stopping the round so that he could stare agog in befuddlement, likely while asking the question posed below.
I'm hoping that Alex isn't known as the expert on gravity and its history within her inner circle, and also kind of hoping that she isn't a science teacher. Otherwise, she might have some explaining to do.
Considering Election Day was this week, the country has been in a quite a heightened state of anguish, and it sounds like this guess made one viewer think a little harder about the future of the U.S.
One Twitter use marked this gaffe down as proof that game shows are a solid litmus test for the kind of person someone is. It's not about Chicago pizza or New York pizza, it's not about Lakers or Celtics (or a more current sports rivalry), and it's not about which Hollywood Chris you're into. It's all about the game shows.
If nothing else, at least this Wheel of Fortune contestant's error has inspired other to embrace it for themselves, as seen below.
This arguably wasn't the worst Wheel of Fortune botched guess that we've seen, even this year, but it certainly is one of the more special ones. Now, if someone named Tom Isaac Newton ends up auditioning to be on a future Wheel episode, I think that might be enough to bring a black hole into existence. Or not.
Now that it's back with new COVID-safe episodes, Wheel of Fortune airs weeknights in syndication, so check your local listings to see when and where it's playing in your area. While waiting to hear more, check out our Fall TV 2020 premiere schedule to see when new and returning shows are popping up.
