Ryan Seacrest Mistake Almost Costs Player $50,000 – Fans React

Ryan Seacrest wins overall Wheel of Fortune viewers with his energetic take on the game show. However, the relatively new host suffered a huge setback on Wednesday, December 18, after apparently failing to recognize a player’s correct bonus puzzle. Fans claimed she would have lost the $50,000 prize if she hadn’t repeated herself.

The messy moment involved Noel Ballacco, a Disney roller coaster lover from Eastchester, New York. She went on to the coveted bonus round with $13,100 and the selection of “People” as her category. Faced with the two-word puzzle, she chose a “G” as her first extra letter and then an “L.” Despite this letter being part of “RSTLNE,” Seacrest said, “Okay.” This itself is a mistake, Ballancon corrected it himself and went back to pick an “M”, I” and “C.” The puzzle read “GRE_T’ ‘_I_S.'”

The 10-second timer began and Ballanco’s first guess was what sounded to many fans, and to Vanna White, like the correct answer “Great Kids.” The iconic mailman burst into laughter and nodded. But the timer continued, Seacrest didn’t say anything, and she wasn’t rewarded with the puzzle.

In his second attempt, Ballanco said more clearly, “Great Kids?” White shrugged and looked at the host (below) in apparent confusion. The host finally decided she was right, “Yes! It is!”

The broadcast cut to show that Ballanco had won $50,000 from the golden envelope, and what made the round even more confusing was that Seacrest was never shown opening it, instead yelling “Yes, yes, yes,” and putting his hands over his mouth and mimicked the player.

On Reddit, a fan gave the title to a post in WoF forum, “12/18 bonus round.” They wrote: “Caught someone else, she said the right answer but Ryan didn’t call it as being correct at first. She had to say it a second time before it was recognized. I even tracked my TV to make sure I heard right the first time.”

Other fans took to the comments section to say that Seacrest “softened up” and were shocked at what they perceived as his failure to hear the original correct solution.

“Yes! Even Vanna nodded her head and said yes after the first time she said it,” one fan wrote.

“Yeah! I was wondering what was going on,” wrote another.

“Ryan needs to pick up his game. I heard it too. Almost had a controversy,” wrote a third.

“It’s the 1st season guys…how about giving him a little break?” argued a fourth.

To which a fifth wrote: “Agreed, he’s had some rough patches on some things, I can understand he might not get it right but this is basically day 1 basics.

A sixth wrote: “Ryan bled and they left it for the world to see.”

And a seventh: “Good thing she repeated herself! Otherwise it would have been a mess.”

On top of X, fans also reacted to the botched bonus round, with one writing: “She said, ‘Awesome Kids’ first? Come on Ryan, pay attention!”

Meanwhile, of course, Seacrest had big shoes to fill in the legendary Pat Sajak. His debut month was the strongest viewership month for WoF for the past three years, and he has endeared himself to fans with his contestant interviews, which he does without cue cards. That said, there have been some other questionable hosting moments.