It’s a cruel, cruel winter for a Wheel of Fortune contestant who missed out on a big win so narrowly people had to watch again

On December 22, 2024By Littum

Since Ryan Seacrest made his Wheel of Fortune debut on TV program 2024there has been plenty of discussion about how he stands up to his predecessor – one of best game hosts in History – Pat Sajak. However, the game itself has remained the same, meaning it has been brutal and callous at times for those trying to win some big bucks. One recent contestant may be having the cruelest winter of all, after she missed the bonus puzzle so narrowly that her situation required at least one re-do.

On December 10, Brittany reached the bonus round and chose “What Are You Doing?” as her category. After getting a little help from the letters she chose, her 10 seconds started, then all too quickly ended in heartbreak. Take a look for yourself:

Brittany’s Bonus Round! | S42 | Wheel of Fortune – YouTube
Brittany's Bonus Round! | S42 | Wheel of Fortune - YouTube

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The answer was “Updating my software” and Brittany guessed it immediately after the buzzer. If you’re like me (and several others, which we’ll get to in a moment), you probably had to watch it back a few times for two reasons.

First, did she get her answer on time? After working on the first part of the puzzle, she calls out “Software” at the same time as the buzzer. Now if game shows were sports (and some would argue that they are), it seems like it would be a “tie goes to the offense” type of situation. Unless they invoked annoying “long break” ruleI think they would have decided that she had the last word in time. (You just watched it again to see how long the break was, didn’t you?)

But in Brittany’s case, I think it was the answer to another question that ultimately doomed her: Did she even guess the right first word? After running it back again, you can hear the contestant say “Uplifting” before she gets the last two words, but she doesn’t wrap it all up with “Update” until after the buzzer.

Ryan Seacrest then revealed $40,000 she lost, and while her $30,921 in winnings will likely make for a pretty merry Christmas, fans agreed it was still a heartbreaker. Comments on the above video included:

It was razor thin, but ultimately not enough to secure a win. Heartbreaking loss, but $30,000 is nothing to sneeze at. Plus, she had Donald Duck to cheer her on, and who doesn’t love Donald Duck? ^_^ – Garrison_the_barbarian
It hurts. – Mr.Face222
I hate that she was late with it, but even after the buzzer it was an excellent solution. – bigralph1978
It hurt. And it was the correct call…Brittany literally said UPLIFT MY SOFTWARE before the buzzer. This puzzle was really tricky. – richardhernandez4490

I agree with the fan who said it was an impressive finish, even if it was a second too late. I can’t imagine my brain would do me any favors with just 10 seconds in such a high pressure situation. If you want to see how other competitors are doing with their own time trials, check your local listings to see when Wheel of Fortune broadcast where you live.