Nerves can get to contestants on Wheel of Fortune, even when faced with solving a puzzle that not only has most of the letters filled out but also should be easy. Such was the case with the October 23 episode.
Contestant Izzy Santiago was a proud uncle who spoke about his nephews and nieces during his interview earlier. Host Pat Sajak then brought up his “good memory.” Izzy explained, “My brain takes pictures of numbers and letters, and it just remembers it.” Sajak asked if that photographic memory was helpful in school, and Izzy confirmed it was — though also noted that it could be a curse sometimes as well.
Things took a turn for Izzy for a puzzle in the category “Fun & Games.” He landed on the $1 million wedge and already had $2250 that round. He was right when he chose an F, resulting in the board reading, _RA_I_G _AME_ FROM A HAT. Izzy then elected to solve, but wrongly guessed “DRAWING GAMES FROM A HAT.” The next contestant, Frankie Theodore, correctly solved the puzzle without spinning: “DRAWING NAMES FROM A HAT.”
Sajak tried to offer an explanation for Izzy’s miss. “You know, in addition to the regular nervousness you get up here, now here’s a million dollars, and all this stuff, and what am I doing?” he suggested. Izzy admitted to the nerves he was feeling in that moment. “Things like that happen,” Sajak acknowledged.
At the end of the regular gameplay, Izzy came in second place, with $13,550 to Frankie’s 15,270 (which included the trip she won by solving the aforementioned puzzle). But if he had guessed that puzzle correctly, and the rest of the game had played out as it had, he could have been the one to head to the bonus round — perhaps with the $1 million envelope in play.
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