Wheel of Fortune host Ryan Seacrest was left in awe after contestant Traci Demus-Gamble made a truly impressive puzzle solve in record-time.
Friday night’s episode saw the English teacher from Dallas, Texas, against T.R. Campbell, an aspiring game show announcer from Lutz, Florida, and Brittany McCauley, a triathlon participant from Fauquier County, Virginia.
Traci had been leading the game with ease by the time it came to the Bonus Round.
However, it appeared like her luck might have run out when she was tasked with figuring out a popular phrase.
After picking the letters M, C, D and O, she was left with a four-word puzzle that read: ‘T _ E _ / _ O / _ _ _ / _ _ C _.’
Ryan had all but assumed that Traci wouldn’t make to make the guess, but she shouted out her answer the second her ten-second timer began.
Wheel of Fortune host Ryan Seacrest was left in awe after contestant Traci Demus-Gamble made a truly impressive puzzle solve
It had appeared like the contestant’s luck might have run out when she was tasked with figuring out a popular phrase in the Bonus Round
‘They Go Way Back,’ she exclaimed with confident, before clapping with glee when it was revealed that her guess was right.
‘Yes, that’s it,’ Ryan announced before looking at her with a puzzled expression.
He then playfully circled Traci while pretending to look for some sort of wire or device that could explain how she managed to get the solve.
Ryan was more than happy to also reveal that her incredible solve earned her a cool $50,000 – taking her total win to $78,000 and two cruises.
‘That was amazing,’ the American Idol host noted. ‘How in the world did you solve that last one?’
‘I just dug deep,’ Traci replied.
Viewers on YouTube were equally as impressed by Traci as one wrote: ‘I couldn’t solve that one to save my life, but Traci got it like it was nothing. Congratulations! Enjoy the moolah!’
‘Now THAT was an amazing solve – kudos to Traci!’ another commented, while one fan stated: ‘Boy that was a great solve by Traci, unbelievable won 50k.’
‘They Go Way Back,’ she exclaimed with confident, before clapping with glee when it was revealed that her guess was right
Ryan looked at her with a puzzled expression before he playfully circled Traci while pretending to look for some sort of wire or device that could explain how she managed to get the solve
Ryan was more than happy to also reveal that her incredible solve earned her a cool $50,000 – taking her total win to $78,000 and two cruises
Viewers on YouTube were equally as impressed by Traci and flooded the comment section with praise for her solve
One stunned fan noted: ‘Wow!! Tracy got that with hardly any letters! I didn’t have a clue! Great job Tracy!!’
‘What the heck? Impressive!’ one fan wrote, while another agreed: ‘Now THAT was an amazing solve – kudos to Traci!’
One fan stated: ‘One of the most impressive bonus round solves I’ve seen for this season.’
Another added: ‘It wasn’t that she got barely any letters. It was that she knew it immediately and said it with confidence.’
One fan mused: ‘I have a feeling she knew it was that, but intentionally chose those consonants just in case her hunch was wrong.’
Afterwards, WoF social media correspondent Maggie Sajak interviewed Traci and admitted that she and the crew were trying to solve the puzzle backstage and didn’t come close to getting it.
When asked by Maggie about the trick to her solve, Traci admitted: ‘I just looked for the letters that weren’t there and plugged them in and just powered through.’
Summing up her experience on the show, Traci gushed: ‘I’ve grown up watching Wheel of Fortune. I love solving puzzles, obviously. Everything was just perfect.’
Elsewhere, though some diehard fans have been slow to warm to new host Ryan Seacrest, adding him to the game show has been good for ratings.
Wheel of Fortune averaged 7.99 million viewers during Seacrest’s first month, and during that time, the show was ‘the most-watched entertainment series across broadcast, cable, and syndication,’ according to Nielsen data per Newsweek.
