Misconceptions and Myths

As with many TV shows, Wheel of Fortune has had a lot of misconceptions and myths created over its long history; while some were born from a lack of information and audiovisual evidence of the early years, a few were crafted by the show itself.

This page addresses them and sorts fact from fiction.

Myth: The current Lose A Turn wedge is white.
Fact: It is a very light shade of yellow.

Myth: Bankrupt has always used its slide-whistle sound effect.
Fact: The original slide whistle debuted at some point between June 7, 1976 and April 6, 1978. The current, lower-pitched whistle debuted on Bob Goen's first episode (July 17, 1989), which also introduced most of the other current sound effects.

Myth: During the shopping era, the hostess always entered from the middle of the curtain.
Fact: In the early days, Susan Stafford came out from Chuck Woolery's left and conversed with him briefly. On Chuck's last show in 1981, and probably for that entire week, she emerged from behind the puzzle board.

Myth: The shopping era always had the option of a gift certificate or "on account".
Fact: When the show debuted in 1975, "on account" was the only option. The gift certificate was added by the end of the year, as it is included in Milton-Bradley's board game adaptations.

Myth: The gift certificate/"on account" options were only available if the player did not have enough to buy the lowest remaining prize.
Fact: The option was always available to the contestant, including the ability to do either or both without buying anything.

Myth: During the shopping era, contestants had to buy their prizes in order from most to least expensive.
Fact: Contestants could bounce around if they wanted (and with careful planning, could avoid being stuck with an unwanted prize), but most purchased highest-to-lowest. The practice was likely suggested to help the announcer, as he had to sort his prize description cards into a lowest-to-highest order.

Myth: The show has always used punctuation in its puzzles where needed.
Fact: Punctuation was nonexistent in the early days, resulting in such puzzles as FISHERMANS WHARF instead of FISHERMAN'S WHARF. The earliest known instance of punctuation is LOVEY-DOVEY, on April 7, 1978.

While they were most certainly used beforehand, there are no known puzzles containing an apostrophe until THERE IS NOTHIN' LIKE A DAME on June 1, 1979. Similarly, there are no examples of multiple punctuation marks until SLEIGHBELLS RING ARE YOU LIST'NIN' on December 24, 1980.

Myth: There has never been such a thing as a negative score.
Fact: A still from an early episode shows a contestant with a negative score. Apparently, Buy A Vowel deducted the $250 regardless of whether the player actually had it.

According to one recollection, the still was seen during an electricity-related program at the 1982 World's Fair; the program showed a brief montage of things powered by electricity, one of which was a TV set tuned to Wheel of Fortune – hence, the still.

Myth: The host and hostess on the cover of the 1975 board games are not Chuck and Susan.
Fact: While the host is clearly not Chuck, Susan confirmed in her book that Milton-Bradley paid her $500 for her image on the cover.

Myth: The $2,000 space debuted in 1979.
Fact: $2,000 was actually used on the hour-long episodes in December 1975 and January 1976, where it was top value for the "head-to-head" round which determined the day's winner.

Following the experiment, $2,000 vanished until some point between June 4 and December 4, 1979.

Myth: The hour-long format debuted on December 1, 1975.
While the show regularly went hour-long on that day (through January 16, 1976), it had previously been used for the week of November 3 as part of the network's Daytime Gigantic Game Gala.

Myth: Prize wedges debuted on the nighttime premiere.
Fact: The concept dates back to the 1975-76 hour-long period, where one was placed on the Wheel for the "head-to-head" round.

Myth: The concept of themed weeks began with Game Show Hosts Week in 1980.
Fact: The earliest known themed week is Brides' Week, held from January 24-28, 1977 (although three grooms played on January 26). It is also the earliest known appearance of Summer Bartholomew, who modeled several wedding gowns for that week, and the earliest known instance of Nancy Jones as co-producer.

While Brides' Week is the most concrete example, an argument could be made for the week of November 3, 1975 due to being a series of "test" hour-long episodes aired as part of NBC's Daytime Gigantic Game Gala.

Myth: Other than Pat and a very brief appearance by Charlie, no male has ever been in the hostess' position.
Fact: Arte Johnson filled the role for at least one episode in late September 1977 (probably the 30th) to promote his NBC game show Knockout, which debuted on October 3 of that year. The timeframe suggests that he was filling in for Susan during her absence.

Myth: The clip seen in the 4,000th nighttime episode with the caption of "1983" is from 1983.
Fact: It is an opening believed to be from 1978. Every element seen in the clip had been changed by the nighttime debut – Charlie O'Donnell replaced by Jack Clark, platforms of prizes replaced by a single large turntable, and "Big Wheels" replaced by "Changing Keys". It is not known how such an error managed to make it on-air.

It should be noted that, other than this and clips from a 1974 pilot, Wheel has not shown anything from non-Sajak eras.

Myth: Nickname debuted in late 1988.
Fact: Nickname is known to have been used on May 31, 1979, and probably before then; based on the available footage of this episode, mostly consisting of Rounds 2 (HOW THE WEST WAS WON) and 3 (SIX FLAGS OVER TEXAS), it is believed that the Nickname puzzle was LONE STAR STATE.

No other circulating daytime or nighttime shows prior to 1988 are known to have used Nickname, so it is not currently known whether the category had a consistent presence or was simply un-retired at some point.

Myth: The five-and-a-vowel Bonus Round debuted on Pat's first show.
Fact: It was in place by December 18, 1981 as the "Christmas Wish Bonus", implying that this was its first week of use. It is unknown if it was used on December 21-24.

Myth: Pat Sajak and Vanna White have hosted the show together since it began in 1981 on NBC.
Fact: Infamously stated by Robin Leach in his behind-the-scenes article on the nighttime show's 28th season, absolutely nothing about it is true – the daytime show began in 1975, Pat joined in 1981, and Vanna became hostess in 1982.

Leach, famous for hosting Lifestyles of the Rich & Famous, was derided for failing to fact-check something which was blatantly false. It was once theorized that he was given the statement by Wheel staff since, if the show gave him the info directly, he would have no reason to think it false.

Myth: Pat began hosting the show in early 1983.
Fact: Stated by Ray Richmond in a July 14, 1988 article for the Chicago Tribune, this has already been debunked in the above section. This error may be related to the "1983" picture above, but this is uncertain.

It should be noted that in the same article, Richmond claimed that Wheel "was stumbling and on the verge of cancellation" when Pat took over. It was actually drawing a 44 share just before Chuck left the show, which was a factor in his request for a salary increase.

Myth: The "logo on overhead shot of Wheel" opening was introduced in 1983, and dropped when the show moved to CBS.
Fact: A very similar shot was done on the 1975 premiere. The opening remained through at least July 21, 1989 (Goen's fifth episode) with the new logo at the end, but was discontinued by August 29.

Myth: The chroma-key shot of the host and hostess in the center of the Wheel was introduced in 1980.
Fact: It is known to have been used on June 7, 1976. It was originally dropped by April 6, 1978, but returned at some point between January 2 and March 18, 1980.

Myth: Other than April Fool's Day 1997, Alex Trebek has only guest-hosted once (a week in August 1980).
Fact: Alex is known to have filled in on the daytime show in mid-1985, likely for a single episode.

Myth: Other than April Fool's Day 1997, Vanna has only spun the Wheel once.
Fact: She is known to have spun the Wheel twice – a September 1989 nighttime show where she played a round for charity while Pat turned the letters, and a daytime Final Spin after Goen got frustrated over repeatedly hitting Bankrupt. It is not known which, if either, incident the 1997 episode referred to.

Myth: Rolf Benirschke doesn't like talking about his stint as host.
Fact: He was among the many who contributed to the show's E! True Hollywood Story.

Myth: Augustus provided the host's wardrobe for the entire daytime run.
Fact: It is not known who performed this service in the early years, although Augustus began doing so by April 6, 1978 and Wheel was not its only credit (among others, Bill Cullen's wardrobe on Chain Reaction and Gene Rayburn's wardrobe on Break the Bank). The company continued in this role on Wheel until it was replaced by Rick Pallack at some point between February 22 and June 30, 1989.

While it may seem silly, Augustus' wardrobe credit was probably the most resilient thing about the show.

Myth: The lowest amounts ever used on the Wheel were $50♦ and $75♦, on the Goen version.
Fact: $0 was used on the Shopper's Bazaar pilot, and $25 when the show debuted. The latter layout also had $50 and $75, albeit without the diamonds.

Myth: The diamonds for $50 and $75 were added on Goen's premiere.
Fact: They were added on his second episode, which also increased one of the $50 wedges to $300.

Myth: Much like Classic Concentration, the daytime Wheel continued in some form until December 31, 1993.
Fact: Wheel ended its daytime run on September 20, 1991. There is no evidence that it continued past that point in any manner, local or otherwise.

Myth: The exact number of daytime episodes is unknown.
Fact: The total number, 4,215, was stated by Peter Tomarken during GSN's first day in 1994, just before they showed the first nighttime episode of Wheel.

It is known that #368 aired June 7, 1976; #785 on January 18, 1978; #2,016 on December 13, 1982 (Vanna's first permanent show); #2,044 on January 20, 1983; #3,564 on January 9, 1989 (Pat's last show); and #3,649 on May 9, 1989. #1,600 likely aired in early 1981, as Chuck mentioned the milestone on April 21.

Episode #3,000 probably aired in December 1986 or January 1987, and #4,000 in late 1990.

Myth: The daytime show kept the continual episode numbering for its entire run.
Fact: When the show returned to NBC on January 14, 1991, they began using a three-digit episode counter prefaced by "#DT" (for example, #DT032 aired February 26). As first-run shows ceased on August 30, the counter would have only gotten a maximum of #DT165 (barring any skips, assuming they were taken into account); it is possible that the following three weeks of repeats were given new episode numbers, which would take it up to #DT180.

Myth: The BUTTINSKY puzzle in February 1993 was solved with all letters but the U revealed.
Fact: U was the last letter called, and the fully-revealed puzzle was originally mispronounced by the player who called the vowel just before he said it correctly ("but-in-ski"). Despite this, Slang remained until around April 1995.

Myth: The 90's was first used in 2000.
Fact: The Nineties was used as early as November 22, 1994. The puzzle, WORLD SERIES CANCELED, refers to the announcement made on September 14, 1994.

Myth: The EAT FRESH puzzle (January 30, 2008) was the last appearance of Slogan.
Fact: Slogan was used once more, on February 19 (although that appearance may have been taped before the January 30 episode).

Myth: Merv Griffin's concept is based on a 1950s game show also called Wheel of Fortune.
Fact: The 1950s Wheel was a Peter Arnell production which ran on CBS from October 3, 1952 to November 6, 1953 and was a rather different beast to Merv's game. Hosted by Todd Russell with Hal Simms as announcer, the format involved good Samaritans being invited on to share their stories to America (including Duane Dewey, the first person to receive a Medal of Honor from President Eisenhower) and spin a vertical carnival-style Wheel for cash or a nice prize; the "top value" was $1,000, awarded for correctly answering a trivia question. The show's theme was Kay Starr's 1952 rendition of the song "Wheel of Fortune", which had previously enjoyed a 22-week stint (nine at #1) on Billboard magazine's best-seller chart.

While Merv did not get his idea from Arnell (much like how he did not get the A&Q concept of Jeopardy! from Gil Fates' 1941-42 CBS Television Quiz), there are nonetheless a few similarities – the 1950s Wheel offered cash and prizes, had its logo in the center of the Wheel (as a permanent decoration rather than a graphic), did hour-long episodes (as a regular feature each Friday), won awards (an "Award of Merit" presented on-set by Robert C. Preble), was popular enough to spawn a nighttime version (which ran from July 7 to September 15, 1953 due to being against Break the Bank), upped its top value ($2,500 by September 18), and even changed hosts (journalist Mike Wallace took the reins at some point between May 25 and September 18). Further, the concept of a vertical Wheel was used by Ed Flesh for the Shopper's Bazaar pilot.

The show became very successful in Australia on radio and the Nine Network, running from 1959-62 and originally hosted by producer Reg Grundy (Walter Elliott took over in 1962). In 1981, Grundy debuted an adaptation of Merv's Wheel to even greater success.

(It is believed that due to network practices of the era, both Arnell's Wheel and Grundy's adaptation were destroyed – two pictures are known to exist of the former {Russell and the Wheel, seen in the A&E Biography episode "TV Game Shows"; Russell and Arnell being presented the Award of Merit}, while clips of the latter were seen in various Aussie retrospectives.)

Myth: Returning champions and the Friday Finals were eliminated due to the sheer amount of contestant applications.
Fact: Pat stated on the Sony Rewards website that it was removed because smart contestants could keep hitting Bankrupt while lousy puzzle-solvers luck into a runaway game.

While it could be argued that luck on the Wheel is half the point of the game and Pat's explanation makes little sense (such a scenario can happen regardless of returning champs), it should be noted that the concept was nixed after a 1997 court order banning Raymond Taylor from appearing in the show's audience.

Myth: The Friday Finals format debuted in 1996.
Fact: The earliest known use of the concept is the All-Star Dream Machine Championship in 1976, although the finals comprised two shows instead of one (not unlike Jeopardy! tournaments). The more familiar version was used as early as December 1982 for Teen Week, Couples Week, Family Week, and Battle of the Sexes Week, among others.

The concept was not officially called "Friday Finals" until September 1996.

Myth: The Friday Finals were dropped after Season 15.
Fact: The format was used one last time for the NFL Players Week of January 25, 1999.

Myth: What Are We Making? is the only "legit" category to be used once.
Fact: Composer/Song and Show/Song were used once each in Season 13.

Myth: Players who have appeared on a version other than the syndicated run are allowed to play again.
Fact: While this is true of sister show Jeopardy!, being on the American Wheel at any point in its history (including Wheel 2000, the unaired 2012 Lottery Winners Week, and possibly the three pilots) renders you ineligible for the rest of your life. The show's website went into detail about this at one point, but currently says it's a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

The reasons for such a rule are unknown; although it could feasibly be due to the fact that "There are many people who want to spin the Wheel!", there is no such rule on Jeopardy!, Family Feud, Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?, or The Price Is Right, all of whom have a great many applicants (although Price has a ten-year waiting period between appearances; i.e., being on in March 2002 means you cannot be called down again until March 2012).

Said rule does not prohibit players from mentioning other versions. One notable example was a contestant named Sarah during the week of May 12, 2003, who stated that her mother was on in 1977 and purchased a trip whereby she met the man she eventually married – hence, without Wheel, her daughter would not exist.

Myth: The show tapes in airing order.
Fact: The show tends to tape well out of airing order, a practice going as far back as the 1993-94 season (the Disneyworld shows were the first shows taped for that season). This was best demonstrated in Season 28, when eight weeks announced by Charlie prior to his death were dubbed over by the guest announcers prior to airing; the official reason was that it was "a tough decision", but would have been too sad to hear Charlie's voice so close to his death.

Given how the during-a-season deaths of Johnny Olson and Rod Roddy were handled by The Price Is Right (airing the remainder of that announcer's work), it has been speculated that the Wheel dubbing was a desire to keep this misconception going.