There has been quite an upheaval at Wheel of Fortune after longtime announcer Jim Thornton was suspended and later dismissed last month after an incident on an American Airlines flight. One unexpected aspect that has come to the attention of eagle-eyed fans is that the show’s closed captioning text is sometimes different from what the new announcer is actually saying in the voice-over. It’s usually pretty minor, but it has been consistently slightly different in the announcements of prices and other things.
Of course, fans have been quick to point out the differences on Reddit, because complaining is what Reddit is for! Ok, “complaining” is a little strong, but, u/RAS310 posted a couple of videos highlighting the differences, writing:
After Autumn won the Bonus Round, the captions showed a completely different line versus what the redubbed announcer (believed to be Marc Elmer) said. The captions said, ‘Autumn, you're making West Virginia proud. Here's…’ The announcer says, ‘Autumn, congratulations. You've just won…’
Wheel of Fortune hasn’t named who the current replacement announcer is, but some believe it is producer Marc Elmer (as mentioned in the post). The announcements have been dubbed over the original announcements made by Thornton as the episodes were filmed live, so viewers have also noticed that sometimes leads to awkward moments on screen, as u/RAS310 also points out:
The original line is very likely what Jim Thornton said when the episode taped, as Jim is from West Virginia. Autumn's interview earlier in the show also implies that Ryan originally brought Jim into it once he learned Autumn was from there, but it was edited out with an obvious audio splice in Ryan's dialogue. When Autumn says "Yes", you can see her nodding in the direction of Jim's booth.
Having watched a few episodes myself, I’ve noticed it as well. As I said, it’s usually a very subtle difference, like where the announcer says host Ryan Seacrest’s name, or something similar. I’ve not seen an example where it’s especially egregious or anything. It is, as some Redditers have pointed out, clunky. U/853fisher writes:
Wow, that seems like a pretty clumsy audio splice. I know they had short notice, but... I feel this is surprisingly amateur for a production with the resources they have access to.
It does seem pretty lazy for the show not to fix the closed captioning, but at the same time, this has been a pretty shocking event for the show, which has also undergone some major changes in its gameplay this season. Thornton was the announcer for 15 years before his firing on September 4th (after being suspended a few days earlier). Thornton was reportedly seen by fellow passengers on an airplane scrolling in a “chat room for pedophiles” and was fired just before the show kicked off its 44th season on the 2026 TV schedule. It’s easy to understand why the priority has been replacing his voice on the show.
Thornton was not arrested after the incident was reported to authorities when the plane landed and has not been charged with any crimes, but the show quickly moved to oust him from his position and replace the voice-over work he’d already completed for the latest season.
The show has not yet named a permanent replacement for Thornton.
