The most recent game of Wheel of Fortune started off with a bang. Fans cracked up at a contestant bombing an answer. Her opponent went on to lose $76,000.
Sharon Stukes, from Wilmington, North Carolina, started off the May 21 game with a laugh. When trying to solve the first toss-up, she buzzed in and said, “Lower the Bomb” when the puzzle looked like “LOW_R T_E BO_M.”
Instead, Brady Stonesifer, from St. Petersburg, Florida, solved “Lower The Boom” for $1,000. “I wasn’t quite sure if you said boom, but I think you said ‘bomb’ clearly, so ‘boom’ it was,” host Ryan Seacrest said.
“I did. I did,” Stukes, a grandma to five kids, told Seacrest.
Reddit users cracked up at Stukes’ mistake. “‘Lower the bomb!’,” one user wrote with a laughing emoji.
“It sounded like she said, ‘LOWER THE BUM!’ XD,” another replied.
“I couldn’t stop laughing,” a fan said.
Stukes and Stonesifer, who has been working on the water for seven years and is married to a boat captain, played against Jeremy Daigle from Chicago, Illinois. Daigle is a pediatrician who specializes in pediatric obesity, something that he struggled with himself. He solved the second toss-up.
With only two letters left in the puzzle, Stonesifer solved “Stages, Screens, and Spotlights.” He took the lead with $4,200.
Daigle picked up the Carnival Cruise wedge during the next puzzle. He solved “Flattery Will Get You Everywhere” for $27,473.
Quickly, Stonesifer solved the “Song Lyrics” puzzle — “I am a Material Girl.” He won a western Caribbean cruise, giving him $14,045.
Stonesifer solved two of the three triple toss-ups. Daigle solved one. With only two letters guessed, Stonesifer solved “Statue of Liberty “for the final puzzle. He went home with $19,745.
Stukes did not win any money, so Wheel of Fortune gave her $1,000. Daigle won the game with $31,473.
Daigle chose “Food & Drink” for his Bonus Round category. He brought his boyfriend, Will, and his best friend, Sharita, with him.
Wheel of Fortune gave him “R,S,T,L,N, and E.” Daigle chose “F,D,C, and A.”
The puzzle looked like “_R_AN_C _ _CC_ _N_.” As the clock counted down, the game show contestant guessed “Scenic” and “Cappuccino.”
It turned out to be “Organic Zucchini.” There was $45,000 in the envelope, which would have given him $76,473.
Could you solve the puzzle? Let us know in the comments.
Wheel of Fortune, weekdays, check local listings, stream next day on Hulu and Peacock