A Wheel of Fortune contestant’s mind went to the finer things in life while under pressure on the iconic game show. Things took a detour into carnal knowledge on the long-running show when contestant Tavaris hilariously slid into fifth base guessing a popular phrase.
Vanna White was on hand to reveal part of the phrase, which read: _ _ _ _ /I _ /T _ E /B _ _ T!
Tavaris glanced at the game board and swiftly buzzed in. He was clearly cocksure that he had the answer.
“Right in the butt,” Tavaris declared as though that was an answer he gives on the regular.
Meanwhile, on the opposite side of the stage, fellow contestant Tyra couldn’t help but voice her confusion loud and clear. The audience burst into laughter, as the beat of silence lingered.
“What?” Tyra finally said. The camera then panned to Tavaris, who looked like he’d just seen his internet search history displayed on a Jumbotron.
“No,” host Pat Sajak deadpanned.
Another contestant, Beth, guessed the somewhat ironic correct answer of “T H I S / I S / T H E / B E S T !”
Thirty years ago, a TV moment like this would air only once and become the stuff of urban legend. However, in the year 2024, it instantly was posted to the internet, to live forever in our collective memory.
The ‘Wheel of Fortune’ Contestant Becomes the Butt of the Internet’s Jokes
To make matters worse for “Backdoor” Tavaris, Wheel of Fortune also shared the footage on their Instagram account. Of course, the denizens of the internet had thoughts about Tavaris’s enthusiastic guess.
“Mind you, this was the first answer of the game,” one fan pointed out on X. “Kicked it off with pure madness about 1:30 into the episode,” they added. “His family is never going to let him live this down,” another WOF fan added. “Where did he even get that from the spaces available?!”, a third fan exclaimed.
Yet another fan believes that Tavaris instantly walked through the secret rear entrance of the pantheon of greatest moments of the show’s history.
“He just became a part of Wheel of Fortune history in a clip that will be played for eternity,” they wrote.
Meanwhile, Tavaris barely squeezed the hilarious moment in with host Pat Sajak. Sajak announced last June his decision to retire from his role as the show’s host, a position he held since 1981 when the show was broadcast during daytime television.
“Well, the time has come. I’ve decided that our 41st season, which begins in September, will be my last,” Sajak wrote on X (formerly Twitter) at the time. “It’s been a wonderful ride, and I’ll have more to say in the coming months. Many thanks to you all. (If nothing else, it’ll keep the clickbait sites busy!)”
Shortly after his announcement, it was revealed that Sajak would continue as a consultant on the show for the next three years, taking him to his 80th birthday.
Sajak’s final episode as host of Wheel of Fortune drops June 7th.