Much like legendary VH1 show Name That Video and Name That Tune before it, the contestants on Wheel of Fortune have really upped the ante these days in their impressive solves. In the past few months alone we’ve seen a puzzle get solved with just three letters, which was then bested by a two-letter solve that netted a trip to Peru.
Thursday’s episode, however, was an even more remarkable feat: a toss-up puzzle that took a single letter to solve by a man named Mark.
The puzzle read “_ ‘ _ – _ _ _ _ _ G – _ – _ _ _ _” shortly after the timing ding sounded and Mark, ever ready to pounce, rang in right away.
What in the hell is this sorcery #WheelOfFortune pic.twitter.com/eNPultxyxn
— Kyle Seeley (@ItsKyleSeeley) March 26, 2020
“I’m having a ball,” he said, before apologizing for actually getting the answer right so fast. Mark got $2,000 for the effort and won a trip to London on the day as well, but despite his impressive guessing he didn’t actually make it to the prize round. It still makes for an impressive solve video that kind of freaked a lot of people out online as sports fans search for something to watch in the wake of social distancing and a lack live sporting events.
And not to discredit Mark here, but he was getting some helpful hints from the other puzzles just before them, all which contained the word “ball.” If you assume the last word is “ball” and the first letter narrows down what you think your options are, you can jump to this conclusion fairly quickly. Below is the lead-up to the solve, which explains at least a bit why he was able to narrow it down.
On #WheelOfFortune right now, Mark just went wild psychic flex. Don’t test him again. @jharting27 @ThePisHere @Sawyerbies pic.twitter.com/TnhFEGCcwS
— Jonathan Petty (@TheBiesor) March 26, 2020
Still this is, of course, the opposite of 2017’s infamous “A Streetcar Naked Desire” solve fail, which you can watch below in case you forget that incredible moment of Wheel history.
Yup, definitely did a lot better than that guy.