A recent “Wheel of Fortune” winner could have been an even bigger winner had he chose his letters in the bonus round better.
Pittsburgh native Ryan Muldowney, 37, didn’t exactly get off to a great start in Wednesday evening’s new episode. Slogging through the first part of the episode, his luck would change midway through the game to make him the winner. The first-time Wheel of Fortune contestant would exit the game show with just under $15,000. He also won a nice, exotic vacation to Costa Rica that he plans to enjoy in the near future. Muldowney could have taken in even more cash if that luck would have carried over into the bonus round.
Despite his success on the show, some people are questioning his letter-guessing skills after coming up short in the bonus round. With another $38,000 at stake, the Wheel of Fortune player couldn’t quite put the puzzle together. The answer to the bonus round puzzle was “Check My Availability,” but Muldowney was unable to pick many useful letters to help. In an interview with Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, he says he is catching quite a bit of flak from internet trolls, going as far as calling him an “idiot.”
“It’s a bittersweet congratulations because of the bonus round,” Muldowney says. “And the internet’s telling me I’m an idiot. I thought I played a pretty good game. If I call the ‘A,’ maybe it would have been a different story.”
‘Wheel of Fortune’: ‘College Week’ Contestant Also Receive Harsh Criticisms
Muldowney is far from the only game show contestant to receive criticism via the world wide web. Only a short time ago, a college student playing the wheel took a lot of flak for failing to solve a puzzle with most of the letters revealed.
University of Southern California student Nico Fife seemed very close to sealing the deal on the recent “college week” edition of the game show. With only a couple of blank spaces left in the phrase puzzle, Fife was unable to guess a correct letter to solidify the win. The phrase “leaving my laptop at home” was the correct answer, but Fife incorrectly guessed “F” instead of a “P,” costing the match.
Like Mudowney, Fife was able to take the Wheel of Fortune criticism in stride and laugh it off. He also took home nearly $10,000 for his efforts.
