Wheel of Fortune 2025-26 Season Discussion Thread

[mechamind]

So the Seacrest has had a full season to practice, but now it's time to get serious.

Nah, just kidding. Ryan gets one more year of practice, as he will be making his debut on Celebrity Wheel soon.

Not much else to update on at this time, though I am sure we'll be getting more new categories. I'm even more certain that at least one of those categories will be travel themed.

Thinking back to how much Price changed in Drew's second year, it already had me curious if we're going to see a lot change in the syndicated version. Maybe we get some mid-season updates? I can bet that Ryan will find a way to interact with celebrities in primetime, anyway.

Only a few more weeks to go! May Ryan bring us another fun season!

[GRWHAMMY the 2nd]

and don't for get that both WOF and Jeopardy get first-run streaming (next-day uploads)

[ThisDayinWeather]

https://buyavowel.boards.net/thread/20895/wheel-accidentally-leak-big-spoiler
Has anybody read that post before? I'm wondering if we're just a few weeks away from seeing Wheel's fourth civilian millionaire (and fifth overall).

[JayC]

I can't imagine that much change for this season since last season had a set upheaval plus all the new categories and the general feel of the show changing some with the host transition.

[Richie]

And I wonder if they are going to be mixing up the category selection for Bonus Land.

THING(S) was absent 4 times last season, we've had some interesting category selections like:  THING/ WHAT ARE YOU DOING/WHAT ARE YOU WEARING  (I call that tough list 2), PHRASE/ WHAT ARE YOU DOING/ WHAT ARE YOU WEARING (tough list 6 in my honest opinion)

We've had PERSON/ PLACE/ THING a few times last season (true generic list)

The PERSON/ PLACE/ PHRASE combo showed up at least twice  (the P list)

I wish we would be shown less of the Raw Deal list: last season it was 29 times out of 195.   

[mechamind]

I decided to wait until closer to the premiere for this one since it was spoiler tagged on Buy A Vowel, and there could be a good reason for it.

There's a thread about a new wedge, and TV Insider also has an article about it. The only thing I will say is that I'm guessing it's going to be for specific weeks, but we'll just have to see when it makes its debut.

Anyway, the new season of syndicated Wheel starts tomorrow!

[PGS25]

Great start to Season 43 with $69,132 in the main game. Almost had a Triple Toss Up sweep, didn't get to see the "Year of Fun" wedge in action, there's plenty of time for it. Unfortunately, we start the season just like last season, with a bonus round loss. Alvin sure fooled me, I assumed he had it. $75,000 in the trash. We'll try again tomorrow.

[Allentown854]

Great start to Season 43 with $69,132 in the main game. Almost had a Triple Toss Up sweep, didn't get to see the "Year of Fun" wedge in action, there's plenty of time for it. Unfortunately, we start the season just like last season, with a bonus round loss. Alvin sure fooled me, I assumed he had it. $75,000 in the trash. We'll try again tomorrow.

Great start? More like a bad start. These difficult bonus round puzzles are basically the reason why Wheel of Fortune does not want to give away anything higher than $40,000. When a contestant does solve a bonus round, they LITERALLY win a sorry $40,000. Seriously, this is the reason why ratings are declining, they might as well rename it The $40,000 Wheel of Fortune, mostly because contestants keep winning and losing $40,000 in the bonus round. Plus, The “Year of Fun” Wedge is just another sorry excuse to pull in ratings, and doesn’t help Wheel of Fortune’s fall from grace. If you can, please handle my opinion on this.

[mechamind]

though I am sure we'll be getting more new categories.

...and we're already off and running. We introduced What The Fun!, Show Me A Sign (this one in the Triple Toss-Up), and Act Your Age in the premiere alone.

The mother of contestant Lauren had previously appeared on the show long ago, but she ended up with only the nice parting gifts, which for that episode were Turtle Wax, Rice-A-Roni, and some fish sticks. After she finished with $5,000, Ryan gave her all three to go with the cash.

Yeah, that was a tough Bonus Round to watch. I also thought Alvin had that one in the bag.

[Richie]

I think we are at consecutive loss 11 for the $75,000 envelope.   We have not had that much luck lately.

Oh Alvin was close.   One K away.   

The maingame was still very good.   No house minimums and unfortunately we had somebody forfeit the Wild Card to the Bankrupt.

[mechamind]

Following a strong main game yesterday, we have a dominant player today. Contestant Gabriel got $45,500 before the Bonus Round. If not for contestant Henry III getting a perfect round in Round 2, Gabriel might have ended up with a sweep. This did, however, mean we got our first gooseegg victim of the season in Ramona.

Gabriel also appears to have known the answer to the bonus puzzle JOURNALING before picking the letters G-J-Q-U and winning a new Mazda.

[mechamind]

Just a bit of a comedown from the last two shows, but we had another pair of $20K+ winners.

I forgot to mention a new category of Risky Business from yesterday, and we got Never Have I Ever from this playing.

Oh, and this time, there was a little something for the home viewers. Every time someone says the word "fun", $1,000 is added to a special pot that can be won by a random Wheel Watchers Club member. It also sounds like it will be appearing again a few more times this season. Today, it reached $9,000. I can't see it going that much higher in future playings, but maybe the show will find an excuse to say it even more often than in this particular week.

We got another one-word bonus puzzle, this one a compound word of WORKBENCH. Unfortunately, it was not solved, so we couldn't give away two Mazdas in a row.

[Allentown854]

Just a bit of a comedown from the last two shows, but we had another pair of $20K+ winners.

I forgot to mention a new category of Risky Business from yesterday, and we got Never Have I Ever from this playing.

Oh, and this time, there was a little something for the home viewers. Every time someone says the word "fun", $1,000 is added to a special pot that can be won by a random Wheel Watchers Club member. It also sounds like it will be appearing again a few more times this season. Today, it reached $9,000. I can't see it going that much higher in future playings, but maybe the show will find an excuse to say it even more often than in this particular week.

We got another one-word bonus puzzle, this one a compound word of WORKBENCH. Unfortunately, it was not solved, so we couldn't give away two Mazdas in a row.

Okay, I don’t want to be a Negative Nancy, but can’t we just all agree that the staff of Wheel of Fortune should just stop introducing new categories? I mean, sure they introduce some more variety to the show, but it’s just an sorry excuse to be hip and trendy with the viewers, and an attempt to bring in more viewers, which I do not appreciate. Whereas Wheel would introduce a new category every few years, the staff is now introducing new categories in one season, which gets tiring if you get my gist. If you can, please handle my opinion on this, but I think Wheel should just chill on introducing new categories, because it gets tiring once in a while.

[sayingsorry]

https://buyavowel.boards.net/thread/20895/wheel-accidentally-leak-big-spoiler
Has anybody read that post before? I'm wondering if we're just a few weeks away from seeing Wheel's fourth civilian millionaire (and fifth overall).

Vanna teased this moment big time last Friday at a taping, definitely felt like more than just a 100k tease

[PatrickRox80]

Given the kinds of body pillows that exist on the internet, whoever approved that Bonus Round puzzle from last night obviously doesn't spend enough time there.