‘Wheel of Fortune’ Player Misses $105,000 Win After Puzzle Is Branded ‘Stupidest Ever’

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Wheel of Fortune fans agreed with a contestant after they read off a puzzle with a confused tone. On the Tuesday, February 25 episode, right off the bat, everyone who played and watched were confused.

The first puzzle of the game was a Tossup worth $1,000. The category was “Occupation.” As the letters appeared on the board, the game show contestants appeared more and more confused. Paulomi Dholakia, from Orlando, Florida, rung in. “Chief Happiness Officer?” she said with a questioning tone to her voice.

“That is it. Yeah. Correct,” host Ryan Seacrest said.

The contestants all chuckled as they got ready for the next puzzle.

“I wasn’t aware that was a thing either, but every company should have one. Don’t you think?” Seacrest asked.

“I agree,” Dholakia nodded.

Reddit users seemed just as confused as everyone on set. “That read lolol. Paulomi’s read of the first toss-up was the correct read. Wtf is that?!? Lol,” the original poster said.

“I guessed the words but then I was like nope can’t be that .. and then it was lol,” replied another fan.

“If they are going to state something as an occupation, it should have to be a legit occupation. Stupidest puzzle ever,” added a Reddit user.

Dholakia said that she has a tendency to make people cry by doing what she calls “taroapy,” which is a mix of reading tarot cards and therapy.

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“Can’t wait to spend time with you during the commercial break,” Seacrest joked. Dholakia assured him that it was happy crying.

Dholakia played against J. Mark Smith, a self-proclaimed “workaholic” from Decaturville, Tennessee, and Celina Alvarado, a serial first-time trier, from Gilbert, Arizona.

By the end of the first commercial break, Dholakia was dominating the game with $10,200. She continued to solve puzzle after puzzle, gaining $17,750. Alvarado had $2,000 by the second commercial break and Smith had no money.

However, after solving the “Things” category puzzle, which was “Life’s simple pleasures,” Alvarado gained the lead with $18,350 by using her Wild Card and also won a trip to Costa Rica This brought her total to $30, 350. Dholakia and Smith were still at the same amounts.

After the triple toss-up, Dholakia gained $4,000 by solving two of the puzzles. Smith finally got on the board and earned $2,000 by solving the last one.

Despite all of the contestants gaining money during the final puzzle, it wasn’t enough to beat Alvarado. Smith ended with $7,100, putting him in third place. Dholakia had an impressive $21,750, but, it wasn’t enough for her to win. Alvarado ended with $30,350 and a trip to Costa Rica. She was advancing to the Bonus Round.

Alvarado picked “Person” for her Bonus Round category. She was given “R,S,T,L,N, and E.” Alvarado picked “M,P,D, and I” to round out the letters. The puzzle then looked like “TRI_I_ _ _ _ _.” Alvarado did not guess the puzzle, which was “Trivia Buff,” and lost out on an extra $75,000, which would have made her grand total $105,000.

Seacrest told her it was “more than ok” because she was going home with a big amount of money and a trip.