October 23 2019 Recap (Josh)

A risk of a skunking. We haven't had the Bonus Round won yet this week. Very close in the BR! Pat almost forgot to open the envelope.

I almost thought he was going to get that one.

One TTU away from a sweep, too. How long will it be before a sweep happens again?

You said it chilidogwof ! Too bad his sweep bid got denied during the triple tossups. 

I originally had HAPPY DUKE with RSTLNE and changed it to the correct answer with his picks. I really thought Josh had it in the bag, getting HAPPY immediately during the 10 seconds, but he probably needed the F (FGHI, anyone?). I don’t even think that he has a wife considering that his dad was the only supporter in the audience.

Also, acwof, the Prize Puzzle location was to Jamaica (Azul Beach Resort Negril), not Aruba. Josh’s final total after the BR is $37,337 ($29,200 cash + Pajamagram gift tag + Jamaica trip), not $37,000.

The unclaimed B&B trip was the Inn at Tiffany Hill.

Hey, guys! Josh here, keen to nerd out a bit about Wheel.

First off, thanks for the supportive and kind words about a stranger you saw on TV! I feel blessed that nothing (for the most part) happened to have the Internet call me stupid or boring or terrible. 

The whole experience was great—the staff do so much to make it a fun, special day, and I loved meeting all the other contestants, who were a lively group, despite an endemic case of nerves. My first stroke of luck during the day was not being the first show to film, which I think gave my "puzzle brain" a bit of time to kick into gear.

That luck continued, of course, into the first round, where the wheel treated me especially kindly—I wasn't immediately familiar with those song lyrics, and when you have to keep the game moving, it's way tougher to figure out! In subsequent rounds, everything "slowed down," if you will, as I had a chance to think before I had to spin and call letters and listen to Pat. 

To touch on a couple of things that have been mentioned: on the first triple toss-up, Holly made an excellent early guess with POT OF FRESH COFFEE, and a shame it wasn't right. I had been thinking CUP for the first word, which is why I didn't buzz in after letters for BLACK came up—POT hadn't occurred to me till Holly said it. I was waiting for a letter to confirm either way when Debbie buzzed in. Happy for her that she solved the puzzle, as the wheel had really run her along the heartbreak rollercoaster with the MDW.

I was thrilled to make it to the bonus round, less so with the categories I was offered (Person, Place, Thing). As a rule, I couldn't pick Thing, and I'm not super keen on Place, either, as my brain doesn't always think of Wheel's Places as places, but rather Things (Tuesday's WIDE FAIRWAY, for example: I get why it's a Place, but especially under the gun, it'd never come to mind). No On The Map or Food and Drink or even Phrase?!

But, yes, the puzzle itself: Short puzzles with no letters are my bane (my greatest fear would be a one-word What Are You Doing?). Still, you've got to work with what you're given. Can't say I would ever have called an F there, and while I love the W, it's not a wise option with so little information.

Indeed, I am single, wife is not a word in my day-to-day vocabulary, and I do wonder if I would have been able to get HAPPY WIFE from the couch. Upon rewatching, I should have hit the "Person" idea harder as opposed to trying to word associate with HAPPY. ("HAPPY BABE" was really just me wanting it to be the impossible "HAPPY BABY.")

And yes, Pat did momentarily forget to open the envelope. His confused look is directed to the several people off-camera, madly gesturing at him to open it.

All-in-all, I'm still a HAPPY DUDE. Stayed a few extra days in LA and went to a Hot Chip concert and a baseball game and ate all the food and saw old friends and got stuck in traffic and drank a $22 vodka tonic in a daze after filming and have zero regrets. And it's great to be able to talk freely about the experience now!