When a Wheel of Fortune contestant watches thousands of dollars slip away after one gut-wrenching mistake, the heartbreaking flub can immediately go viral, reminding fans just how unforgiving nature of the game.
For example,Amy Johnston missed out on her bonus puzzle, leaving viewers at home scratching their heads, asking, “What the fax?” On Wheel of Fortune, every word and phrase is fair game. Even those antiquated terms about items that are nearly non-existent, so when Amy ran out of guesses and said, “I got nothing,” she tried to save herself by claiming she didn’t know what “faxing” meant. Amy missed the answer after being on a tear, and she tried to stay upbeat. But the error is just one example of how the game takes contestants (and fans) to supreme highs only to drop to deep lows.
Viral Moments Keep ‘Wheel of Fortune’ Flubs Captured in Time
On Wheel of Fortune and other game shows, any error lives on long after the episode airs. Thanks to social media, even the smallest flubs get clipped, shared, and replayed millions of times. In the past, a contestant’s stumble that once would’ve faded into game show trivia was suddenly rebranded as a viral fail, reaching far beyond the show’s usual audience.
The harshness comes not just from the loss of prize money, but from the instant armchair commentary. Viewers on X, TikTok, and YouTube pounce on each flub, dissecting the contestant’s thought process, or lack thereof, with brutal one-liners and merciless memes. What may have been a high-pressure, split-second decision for the player becomes entertainment fodder for millions.
That cycle is part of the show’s endurance. For fans, viral mistakes are unforgettable, crystallizing the tension and unpredictability that keep Wheel from ever feeling stale. But for the contestants themselves, the internet’s memory can be cruel—turning a few seconds of panic into a digital legacy that overshadows their entire appearance.
This Latest ‘Wheel of Fortune’ Example Shows a Ridiculous Puzzle
Before the new season begins, Wheel of Fortune shared some of the year’s best episodes for summer reruns. During this particular episode’s action, the focus was on Amy, a former opening act for an Elvis impersonator at a Chinese restaurant from Schertz, TX. After defeating Misha Graves, a Minneapolis mom who loves basketball and has 7 children, enough to field a basketball team of her own, and Jon Reinink, a 6’2′ Indiana minister who visited 30 countries by the time he turned 30, Amy brought her dad, her husband, and daughter with her to the bonus round. The category was “What Are You Doing?”
Following the typical “R, S, T, L, N, and E,” Amy picked “G, C, M, and O” for the puzzle to officially read “_ _ _ _ NG _ T O _ ER NO_.” While she knew that the rest of the puzzle read “it over now,” the first word hung her up. In the end, the puzzle was meant to read, “Faxing it over now.” Though she did tell host Ryan Seacrest that she didn’t know what “faxing” meant, she may have been just trying to play it off. When Ryan revealed the $40,000 prize, there was an aura of disappointment, but at least she had fans’ support on the gams’s official YouTube page to console her.
Though we’re not here to age anyone, the comment section was quite keen to call out the ridiculous puzzle. As one person wrote, “Girl, like who even says that? My 90-year-old grandma.” Another wrote, “When was the last time ANYONE faxed something?’ A valid question, but fax machines still exist in the wild, though the usage may be sparse.
‘Wheel of Fortune’ Almost Made a Historic Losing Streak
Amy’s loss had bigger implications for the beloved show. Some fans were disappointed at the larger game picture as Amy’s loss marked 18 in a row. “Are you kidding me right now? That is 18 losses in a row!!! Are we gonna reach a record-breaking 20 losses in a row before we finally get a win? I am faxing to WOF right now to wanting to know what is going on!!” one comment read. The longest streak in show history is 20, but Wheel of Fortune did not tie it as Rachel Granier, a Cajun food lover from Lafayette, Louisiana, stopped the streak at 19, winning right at the 20th game two days later.
For 20 consecutive games between April 29 and May 24, 2019, Wheel of Fortune witnessed its longest losing bonus round streak. Though the 2025 run was one game shy of the Season 36 run, the historic moment is something that brings fans together in shock, agony, and anxiety. Of course, at-home players grow increasingly frustrated that they can correctly guess the answer, but they’re not surrounded by the extreme pressures of the studio. As some die-hard fans noted in a Reddit thread, the game was actually “Wheel of Misfortune.” Feeling like the game is growing harder, it’s likely fans will be keeping a keen eye on the level of difficulty when the series returns in September under the hosts’ sophomore season.
Wheel of Fortune airs weeknights. Check your local listing for time and network.
