A clip of a contestant on Wheel of Fortune totally flubbing an answer has been making people cackle, but there’s actually a Toronto connection to the moment.
The wheel just happened to have landed on a section marked with a prize from Toronto-based design company The Ends during the moment when a contestant somehow totally dropped the ball on an easy answer.
The puzzle read “fresh tropical fruit” without the “S,” but for some reason instead of solving it, the contestant chose to spin.
The wheel landed on a prize pack from The Ends, but somehow the contestant was still flummoxed as to what to guess. She went with…
“G?!” …to audible moans from the crowd.
No. The answer to the last missing letter was not “G,” I’m afraid. The very next contestant, obviously, solved the puzzle.
You don’t often think about how those prizes actually get on that wheel, but it was all a part of everyday entrepreneurship for The Ends founder Bishop Brigante.
“It was really difficult to make a connection to Wheel because there’s nothing online that you can find to help get your brand on there. So I had to get creative, and start connecting the dots and all of a sudden I was on the phone with the producers of the show. I told them my story and all about The Ends and they loved it,” Brigante tells blogTO.
“Almost immediately, they said let’s get this on Teen Week and College Week because they knew that would be a big target demographic for me. I made the prize $1,000 because as an avid watcher of Wheel, I know that contestants would rather cash than a random prize. Plus, to win the game, it’s about who ends up with the most cash.”
They currently have four shows already filmed and coming out in April for College Week.
“I actually thought that episode was going to air on Wednesday. We watch the show every night so when it came on, my lady saw the gift tag on the wheel and my house was upside down from excitement. It’s one thing to come up with a random and crazy idea to get The Ends on the wheel as a prize but to actually see it on TV was surreal,” says Brigante.
“We were glued to the screen to see how many times you could see the tag, and then when the young girl landed on it with one letter to call, I was holding my breath in excitement. Because when you guess a correct letter, then Pat Sajak says to pick up the tag and calls out the prize and the company it came from, which is even more priceless.”
Brigante wants to continue to participate in as many shows as possible.
“All of a sudden the contestant seemed really nervous and just couldn’t see what letter needed to be called. So instead of saying S, she called out G and that’s when I knew the clip was going to go viral. At first, I was like everyone else, screaming at the TV. But eventually, I felt bad because it’s teen week,” says Brigante.
“I knew the whole world was going to roast this young girl for her obvious nervous mistake. That’s why I reached out on IG to let her know if she wants a prize pack from The Ends, I would love to ship one out to her. It’s not easy being on national television solving puzzles and I want to show her that The Ends supports her efforts, win or lose.”
