There’s something strange going on with Wheel of Fortune, and I’m not just talking about Vanna White’s “glitch in the matrix.” Ever since Ryan Seacrest took over for Pat Sajak on the 2024 TV schedule, I’ve noticed what seems like an uptick in the number of Bankrupts and Lose a Turns hit during the games. Perusing social media, I was glad to find out I wasn’t the only one annoyed by this bizarre circumstance, and it turns out some fans are going so far as to ask for a big change to be made.
The transition from Pat Sajak to Ryan Seacrest as host of one of the best game shows in TV history has been a relatively smooth one. Some Wheel Watchers took issue with the bright and busy new set, but the American Idol host’s takeover has been going well overall. Some contestants, however, might not agree. One fan started a discussion on Reddit regarding “The amount of Bankrupts” that have been plaguing Season 42, saying:
There are so many now! Anyone else notice this? It’s almost like they are timed…
Now, it’s important to note that it would be illegal for Wheel of Fortune to manipulate the wheel in any way to influence which spaces the contestants land on, but I totally get why someone might think something was amiss. I’m not even sure I'd say “timed” is the right word, though, given how often we’ve been seeing contestants hitting those undesirable wedges all in a row.
The issue has caused some fans to request that one Bankrupt space be removed from the puzzle so that players will lose their money less often. Comments on the thread included:
- the wheel has one too many BANKRUPTS on it; pls remove one – commentator3
- I've noticed SO many more. – eggsaladsandwich4
- I've always thought the amount of Bankrupts was disproportionate to the number of spaces on the wheel – Noeckett
Several Redditors noted that the influx of bad luck is happening fairly regularly on multiple episodes, but what went down on September 18 was especially egregious, as you can see in the post below:
This just happened on Wheel of Fortune...Unbelievable! pic.twitter.com/TJysPow03LSeptember 18, 2024
After three-straight Bankrupts in the clip above, Ryan Seacrest suggested they needed to “have a conversation with this wheel,” asking, “What are you doing to us?” This was followed by a Lose a Turn, prompting the host to ask:
Who did something bad before they got here?
A contestant then was able to guess one letter before hitting Bankrupt again, which was followed by another Bankrupt (Ryan Seacrest at this point: “So, I’m new here. I’ve never seen anything like this before.”) Rather than breaking “the curse,” as Seacrest called it, the next player landed on Lose a Turn, and the host desperately turned to his colleague and begged:
Vanna? What is going on? Please help me!
After another Bankrupt, Ryan Seacrest ceased to live, falling over onto the surface in front of him. OK, he didn’t really cease to live, but he was rendered speechless as the next contestant asked if she should go ahead and keep playing.
Some fans think the odd turn of events could be the fault of the new host — with comments that “Ryan brought some bad mojo with him” and theories that “It’s the wheel retaliating against Ryan.” Despite Seacrest suffering his first big flub in recent days, others offered a possible explanation that, if true, is way more logical. RegisPhone wrote:
In the past they've typically edited out turn cycles that don't affect the game -- all three players in a row landing on Lose a Turn, landing on Bankrupt with no money, or guessing a wrong consonant, so no one's money has changed. Last week, with the jackpots building from every spin for the entire game, they couldn't edit out any turn cycles that included landing on a dollar amount, so more Bankrupts probably got left in than normal.
Several other people supported this theory, saying multiple Bankrupts/Lose a Turns in a row used to be edited out. There were several reasons given for why that's seemingly not being done this season, including gameplay purposes like the Jackpot or the simple fact that Ryan Seacrest’s reactions are so funny. To be sure, the audience was straight-up screaming with every wheel turn during that September 18 episode, and that would have been pretty difficult to edit around.
We’ll have to see if this sort of occurrence continues to be an issue and, if so, whether Wheel of Fortune would ever consider addressing it in some way.