Wheel of Fortune Season 41 (and Celebrity S4) Discussion Thread

[Richie]

Tonight's Bonus Round made up for Monday, as we got our third $100,000 win of the season!

Certainly easier than the first two $100K wins of the season, and certainly easier than the first two puzzles this week.

Berto was dealt the RAW DEAL list.   He picked PHRASE which I would have picked.   To be honest I was surprised it was a simple puzzle...and he made the right choice.   I had a hunch THING and WHAT ARE YOU DOING had the harder puzzles.   I was very happy Berto hit the $100,000 with the solve and that was Bonus Land win #49.

[mechamind]

Pretty close main game after the triple Toss-Up, with just an $89 gap between two players. Figures that the Lord among them ends up gooseegging. Officially, he owns 1x1 foot of Scottish land with the title of Lord on it.

As for the Bonus Round, it wasn't the $100K tonight. It was "only" a $75,000 win this time.

(I'd literally just figured out the answer to the puzzle after the first "ding" sounded for the three-and-a-vowel.)

[Richie]

Everybody has picked PHRASE a lot lately.   I wonder if the trend is going to break soon...

In fact this was win #50 in Bonus Land.   With $175,000 won in two Bonus Lands...I smell toughies.   

[Richie]

Well apparently somebody picks WHAT ARE YOU DOING for Bonus Land and it turned out to be a huge mistake for Jesse.

DON'T pick the trap letters!    Tonight's Bonus puzzle had two trap letters, and Jesse picked them both.   That puzzle was very tough.

[mechamind]

It's normal for Price to have trips within the continental 48, and I guess there's the occasional Wheel prize, but South Dakota felt rather unusual for a Trip Puzzle. At least it's a change from the usual Caribbean getaway.

Now...how the heck did he solve that Speed-Up of GLACIER BAY ALASKA with just an S? I actually got the last word, but no way was I getting the top row without some extra help. This is up there with HIMALAYAN SEA SALT from September.

The Bonus Round was more of the usual, though. I no-lettered it, though only because I did a retro recap with that puzzle around New Year's 2022-2023.

[Richie]

After $175,000 total was given away last week, the Friday puzzle, AND the Monday puzzle leads me to believe we are in Budget Mode in Bonus Land.   

[mechamind]

Wednesday gave us another $100,000 win! I think this is the closest someone has ever come to a buzzer-beating top prize win (counting only wins). The puzzle was WE HAD A LAUGH, and she even paused between the first two words before saying the whole thing at once.

Coincidentally, the $100K winner had an awkward moment in Round 3. There, she also paused between words when attempting to solve CAN'T SEE THE FOREST FOR THE TREES. In that case, her solve wasn't accepted, one additional reason being that she broke it up by saying "Oh, shoot!" between the 4th and 5th words. Good thing she recovered from that one!

[Richie]

Wednesday gave us another $100,000 win! I think this is the closest someone has ever come to a buzzer-beating top prize win (counting only wins). The puzzle was WE HAD A LAUGH, and she even paused between the first two words before saying the whole thing at once.

Coincidentally, the $100K winner had an awkward moment in Round 3. There, she also paused between words when attempting to solve CAN'T SEE THE FOREST FOR THE TREES. In that case, her solve wasn't accepted, one additional reason being that she broke it up by saying "Oh, shoot!" between the 4th and 5th words. Good thing she recovered from that one!

Not only that she flipped the wrong Mystery Wedge too.  BUT!   Her hitting the $100,000 from her last second solve in Bonus Land made up for her earlier mistakes.

[mechamind]

Ladies and gentleman, here are the stars of our show! Jared Leto and Vanna White!

Well, Jared was there until the reveal of the first Toss-Up. Pat carried on after someone rang in.

[mechamind]

We had a returning contestant due to an error in her original show on October 6, 2017; previously, we had a contestant from that same show appear on June 1, 2021. Both are believed to be due to the third contestant (who won the 2017 game) specifying which vowel to buy, an I, only after getting buzzed out.

[Richie]

Concerning this week so far, we've had two contestants in a row forfeit the Wild Card to the Bankrupt.

...AND two hard puzzles in Bonus Land.   BUMPY PATH (PLACE) was very hard, and tonight's WHAT ARE YOU DOING puzzle was NOT a cakewalk by any means necessary.   There were about 3 possibilities to that puzzle.

[mechamind]

So first, the Round 3 puzzle is ACCENTUATE THE POSITIVE. Later, when we get to the Bonus Round, the contestant misses out on $100K, and at the reveal...Pat simply tells the contestant to turn around first.

One of the few times he doesn't do just what the Round 3 puzzle said before the $100K reveal, though of course he did that afterwards.

[Richie]

...I really didn't like the Bonus Land puzzle of PLACE tonight.   It was impossible!    I thought that puzzle was a FORCED loss.   It's too bad tonight's contestant missed the $100,000, BUT NOT many would get this LANDMINE.

This has to be the second time this week we had a true generic list: PERSON/PLACE/THING.

Something tells me Bellamie and company are really putting out all the stops in Bonus Land.   It has been really difficult to ace these puzzles.   And we are still stuck at 53 victories.

[DebonairDylan]

...I really didn't like the Bonus Land puzzle of PLACE tonight.   It was impossible!    I thought that puzzle was a FORCED loss.   It's too bad tonight's contestant missed the $100,000, BUT NOT many would get this LANDMINE.

This has to be the second time this week we had a true generic list: PERSON/PLACE/THING.

Something tells me Bellamie and company are really putting out all the stops in Bonus Land.   It has been really difficult to ace these puzzles.   And we are still stuck at 53 victories.

My mom and I got that puzzle last night so they might be trying to force losses, some of the hard puzzles are the ones we get without any extra letters.

[Richie]

Great.   One loss away from Skunkville.   Tonight's Bonus Land puzzle was tricky but not as bad as the other three puzzles this week.