Misconceptions and Myths

"...you know, we're not above spreading misinformation." (Pat Sajak on December 15, 1995, after expressing uncertainty that $73,150 was the one-day record.)

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, others were made by inaccurate reporters and websites. Several were even crafted by the show itself, despite the fact that such things may be considered unethical; indeed, Pat admits as much in the above quote.

This page addresses the misconceptions, myths, and rumors, sorting 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: The lowest amounts ever used were $50♦ and $75♦, on the Goen version.
Fact: $0 was used on the Shopper's Bazaar pilot, and $25 when the show debuted. Prior to Goen, $50 had been used from 1973-75 while $75 was only used in 1975.

Myth: The "logo on overhead shot of Wheel" open 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 at some point between then and August 29.

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

Following this experiment, $2,000 vanished until some point between June 4 and December 4, 1979, where it returned to being the top value.

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 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. While dropped by April 6, 1978, it returned at some point between January 2 and March 18, 1980.

Myth: The diamonds for $50 and $75 were added on Goen's premiere.
Fact: They were added on his second episode (July 18), which also increased a $50 wedge to the "off-model" yellow $300 that covered Free Spin during later nighttime rounds. The "off-model" $300 was only used for that one episode, being replaced on July 19 by $50♦ in a swap with the neighboring $125.

Myth: The wedge underneath the top dollar value on the 1996 template was blank.
Fact: When the single template was introduced, the wedge underneath the top dollar value was the yellow, non-sparkly $1,000. While never used during the actual game, it could be seen during the credits on several episodes of Season 14 as well as the 1998 Andrews McMeel day-by-day calendar and 1999 Parker Brothers home game box.

The wedge was not blank until the template was revamped in 1998.

Myth: The top dollar value has never been covered by a Prize or token.
Fact: There have been two known instances of this happening; the first, on October 26, 1992, had the Surprise wedge on the $1,000 in Round 1. On May 3, 1995, the Free Spin was placed over the second zero on said wedge; it was picked up in that same round but, as per the rules at the time, no cash was awarded.

Both instances suggest (perhaps wrongly) that the show was being stingy, the latter moreso due to being part of a "celebrities play for charity" week.

Myth: There have never been two adjacent cash wedges of the same value.
Fact: From January 1988 through the end of Season 5, the Free Spin wedge was covered by an "off-model" yellow $200 wedge in Round 2, despite the wedge being next to an "on-model" red $200. When Season 6 began in September, Free Spin's Round 2 replacement was increased to $300 (although it remained "off-model").

Myth: No round ever had more than one of the top dollar value.
Fact: By the time the First Edition home game was released, a second $500 wedge was added in Round 1; a third was added (increased from $100) at some point between June 7, 1976 and March 15, 1978. Barring some minor font alterations and a change of the blue $400 to red, the resulting layout remained until the top value was increased to $750 at some point between June 4 and December 4, 1979.

From 1973-75, and again since 1979, the top value of any round has been one-of-a-kind (and, for many years, the only regular four-digit amount in any round).

Myth: The option of a gift certificate or "on account" was in place from the beginning.
Fact: From the 1974 pilots until around mid-1975, "on account" was the only option. The gift certificate was introduced while Buy A Vowel was still present, as both are in Milton-Bradley's board game adaptations; while the July 15 and August 29 shows exist on audio tape (held by Archival Television Audio, Inc.), they are not known to circulate and would cost $150 to obtain copies.

Myth: The gift certificate/"on account" options were only available if the player did not have enough to buy the lowest remaining prize.
Fact: At least "on account" was always available, including the ability to do so without buying anything; the gift certificate option is uncertain, as several recollections claim that players could only get one if they had an amount lower than the lowest remaining prize. There have been several instances where the host went into the options before being reminded from offstage about a remaining two- or low three-digit prize.

It is no secret that several prizes were quite esoteric and unlikely to be accepted by most players, which typically resulted in appearing time and again; the ceramic Dalmatian was originally among this group, but became progressively more desirable during the 1980s.

Myth: 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 ceramic Dalmatian was introduced in the 1980s.
Fact: Chuck Woolery comments on March 15, 1978 that the show had given away three or four "ceramic dogs" by that point, and the fact he brings it up suggests that one was just bought. While they are not stated as being Dalmatians and the Round 2 shopping portion is not available outside of Paley Center, it is likely that they were.

Myth: The show has always used punctuation in its puzzles where needed.
Fact: Punctuation was nonexistent in the early days, as confirmed by both the First Edition home game and multiple personal recollections. The earliest known instance of punctuation is LOVEY-DOVEY, on April 7, 1978.

The first known puzzle to contain an apostrophe is THERE IS NOTHIN' LIKE A DAME on June 1, 1979. The first known instance of multiple punctuation marks is not until SLEIGHBELLS RING ARE YOU LIST'NIN' on December 24, 1980.

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.

As one of the lesser-used categories, the category's life has been extremely hard to determine due to a limited sample size of available episodes. The last known use of Nickname was on December 18, 1994.

Myth: The AT MY WIT'S END bonus puzzle (May 5, 1986) was lost, with the only guess being AT MY CAT'S END.
Fact: The contestant actually gave the correct answer very shortly after the mis-solve, albeit with the first half before the buzzer and the second half afterward; as there were no more commercial breaks, a stop-down was done before declaring him a winner.

The idea that he lost is due to the mis-solve being the only part shown on various specials, even though the moments right afterward are arguably more notable.

Myth: Round 2 on November 2, 1992 was played while viewers saw a brief video about the San Francisco tapings.
Fact: Stated by Pat following the above video, this is untrue – Round 2 was taped, with the answer being VANNA'S PREGNANT. By the end of October, she had miscarried and the segment replaced on the aired episode by the aforementioned video.

The only portions of this round which have been shown are a freeze-frame of the winning contestant and her score ($1,350) following the video, and some behind-the-scenes footage during Vanna's A&E Biography of Merv Griffin surprising her after she finished revealing the puzzle.

At the end of the credits, Charlie notes that the episode had been edited for broadcast, but does not clarify.

Myth: The BUTTINSKY puzzle (February 26, 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. In spite of 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 on that show, WORLD SERIES CANCELED, referred to the announcement made on September 14 of that year.

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 was taped before the January 30 episode).

Myth: The category that listed ingredients for a food item was "What Are You Making?"
Fact: It was "What Are We Making?"

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: 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 Stop the Wheel, I Want to Get Off! that Milton-Bradley paid her $500 for her image on the cover.

Myth: During the shopping era, the hostess always entered from the middle of the curtain.
Fact: In the early days, Susan came out from Chuck's left and conversed with him briefly; this changed to the more familiar curtain entrance at some point between June 7, 1976 and April 6, 1978.

On Chuck's last show in December 1981, and probably for that entire week, she emerged from behind the puzzle board.

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: Pat and Vanna 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.

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 above. This error may be related to the "1983" picture below, but this is uncertain.

Further debunking Richmond's credibility is that in the same article, he 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, which was a factor in his request for a salary increase.

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 Bob Goen got frustrated over repeatedly hitting Bankrupt. It is not known which, if either, incident the 1997 episode referred to.

Myth: Rolf Benirschke would prefer to not talk about his stint as host.
Fact: He was among the many who contributed to the show's E! True Hollywood Story.

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 hour-long format debuted on December 1, 1975.
Fact: 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: 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.

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) or the All-Star Dream Machine Championship (1976).

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", suggesting that this was its first week of use. It is unknown if it was used on December 21-24.

Myth: The price of vowels has always been $250.
Fact: While true for the nighttime version, the price of vowels in daytime was cut to $200 when the show moved to CBS on July 17, 1989, and cut again to $100 at some point between January 4 and July 5, 1990.

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 (also the earliest known instance of Nancy Jones as co-producer), 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: It was used one last time for the NFL Players Week of January 25, 1999.

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 both the 1997 court order banning Raymond Taylor and the March 18, 1998 appearance of since-convicted child molester Matthew Fenwick.

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 show{s}, and possibly the 1973-74 pilots) renders you ineligible for the rest of your life. The show's website goes into detail on the "Show FAQs" page, but only says it's a once-in-a-lifetime experience on the "Contestant FAQs" page.

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).

The rule does not prohibit players from mentioning other versions, which has happened several times:
 * Sarah (last name unknown; College Week of May 12, 2003) mentioned 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.
 * Cheron Burns (December 8, 2009) mentioned that her father played in 1976; this article from December 3 mentions his name (Ron Burns) and that he purchased a trip to Bermuda which essentially became his honeymoon. Unfortunately, Ron is not present on any of the surviving 1976 episodes.
 * Erin Diamond (April 21, 2011) mentioned that her mother was on the show in 1978, with Chuck briefly name-dropped. She later revealed on her contestant blog that her mother won, and her Facebook page gives the name: Robbie Goldstein Diamond. As contestant information remains unknown on two of the surviving 1978 episodes, it is not known whether Robbie was on either of those.

Myth: The "Final Spin" graphic is used to mask any editing should Pat spin a non-cash wedge.
Fact: Any edits made during the Final Spin can easily be seen when the camera angle changes to the overhead, close-up shot of the Wheel. This is most obvious if the red arrow is heading for Bankrupt or Lose A Turn and the close-up shot has it landing somewhere else entirely (such as a few wedges to the right of Bankrupt/Lose A Turn).

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 December 24, 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 quite 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 in 1973.

Another similarity was that the show became very successful in Australia, running on radio from 16 June 1957 to 1959 and the Nine Network from September 1959 to 1964; it was originally hosted by producer Reg Grundy, with Walter Elliott taking over in 1962. In 1981, Grundy debuted an adaptation of Merv's Wheel to even greater success.

And, much like 1970s episodes of Merv's format, it is believed that both Arnell's Wheel and Grundy's adaptation were destroyed due to network practices of the era. 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 have been used in various Aussie retrospectives.

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 (August 1980), platforms of prizes replaced by a single large turntable (December 1981), and "Big Wheels" replaced by "Changing Keys" (August 1983). 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: Nancy Jones joined Wheel as producer in 1980.
Fact: She became co-producer with John Rhineheart by NBC's All-Star Dream Machine Championship in 1976. By March 25, 1980 she became the sole producer (after Rhineheart left), continuing in this role for the rest of the daytime run. She remained on the nighttime show until some point between February 27 and June 22, 1995, when she was replaced by Harry Friedman.

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 was replaced on daytime Wheel by Rick Pallack at some point between February 22 and June 30, 1989, but continued to provide Pat's wardrobe on the nighttime show through at least June 3, 1992; by the Season 10 premiere on September 7, it had been replaced by Fred Hayman.

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

Myth: The exact number of daytime episodes is unknown.
Fact: The total number, 4,215 (or 4,250), was stated by Peter Tomarken during GSN's first day in 1994, just before the nighttime Wheel debut was shown. Admittedly, the last two digits are not certain since "fifteen" and "fifty" sound very similar, especially when followed by an "N" word (as Tomarken did, saying "network" right after the number).

It is known that #368 aired June 7, 1976; #785 on January 18, 1978; #2,000 on November 19, 1982; #2,016 on December 13, 1982 (Vanna's first permanent show); #2,044 on January 20, 1983; #3,000 on October 3, 1986; #3,421 on June 14, 1988; #3,564 on January 9, 1989 (Pat's last show); and #3,649 on May 9, 1989.

Episode #1,000 probably aired in November or December 1978; #1,600 in early 1981 (as Chuck mentioned the milestone on April 21); and #4,000 in late 1990.

Myth: The daytime show kept the continual episode numbering for its entire run.
Fact: When the show moved to CBS on July 17, 1989, they began using a three-digit episode counter prefaced by "#C" (for example, #C115 aired December 27, 1989). The return to NBC on January 14, 1991 ditched this for a new three-digit counter prefaced by "#DT" (for example, #DT032 aired February 26).

It is not known why either was done.

Myth: Much like Classic Concentration, 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.

This was perpetrated on Wikipedia in October-November 2008, when two IP-address editors changed the daytime version's article to say it ended first-run shows on January 15, 1993 (later New Year's Eve 1993), even claiming that daytime adopted the "interlocking W's" backdrops on July 20, 1992.

Myth: The nighttime show switched to the diamond backdrops full-time in 1991.
Fact: The diamond backdrops were only permanent from Seasons 8-9 (1990-92), but remained in use on road shows through the end of Season 12 in 1995. (Note that this does not apply to the daytime version, which retained the chevron contestant backdrops for the rest of its run.)

Myth: The font of the Wheel wedges is "Chesterfield", also known as "Volta".
Fact: Chesterfield was only used for a period starting with the 1974 pilots. As the series continued, the appearance of certain parts of the Wheel changed slightly: by March 15, 1978 the Bankrupt font became a bit bolder (most noticeably the R), and by April 6 became considerably bolder (most noticeably the U, now even); by March 2, 1979 the 7's had been modified to have a flat bottom instead of a rounded one, and eventually more numbers started changing such as the 8's and 0's.

Though most of the Wheel templates used were likely hand-painted, Wheel stuck with the modified font until January 2003 when all numbers (but not letters since Bankrupt kept the same appearance) were modified once again. In this new font, most of the numbers resemble Clarendon, with only the 7, 8, and dollar sign looking identical to their counterparts in the previous font.

In a March 2008 article from the Chicago Tribune regarding various facts about the Wheel itself, the font was stated to be "a customized version of Clarendon bold/black". While this font is known to exist (it was also used for all letters and numbers on the Wheel in the 2008 Philippines version and for displaying prize values and the winner's final total in the 2010 Nintendo DS game), it is not available to the general public and must be obtained through licensing agreements with the show.

Myth: The font used for the show's logo is "SF Fortune Wheel".
Fact: "SF Fortune Wheel" was constructed by font designer Derek Vogelpohl in 1999. The font used for the show's official logo appears to be based on "Chesty" (also known as "Bust"), though some characters differ slightly in appearance in comparison to both aforementioned fonts – notably, "Chesty" includes lowercase letters (though not the Wheel-shaped "o") while "SF Fortune Wheel" does not. Other characters and words that do not appear in the logo have been displayed in the font on rare occasions (such as "WHEEL AROUND THE WORLD" during said week in Season 28), though the font does not appear to be available to the general public.

The above said, "SF Fortune Wheel" has been used by the show for various reasons (such as "WINNER" during the Winner Wonderland sweepstakes promos in December 2005) as well as on show-related sources, mainly certain video game adaptations.

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 weeks of October 4 and December 20, both done at Walt Disney World, were the first tapings of Season 11). This practice was best demonstrated in Season 28; see below.

Myth: Charlie's last episode was October 29, 2010.
Fact: By the time Charlie fell ill in October (with Johnny Gilbert filling in for two weeks), he had recorded eight weeks which were scheduled to air at various points during the remainder of Season 28 (November 8, 22, and 29; December 20 and 27; January 3; February 7; and March 28). Following his death on November 1, it was decided to dub over them with various guest announcers; the official reason was that it was "a tough decision", but it 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 Johnny's work and keeping both voices intact for the following Summer repeats), it has been speculated that the Wheel dubbing was instead a desire to keep the "taping in airing order" misconception going.

(As an aside, the official reason as to why the Summer 2011 repeats had Jim Thornton dubbed over the other guest announcers was because they had announced his hiring and wanted to "establish" him. This is again unlike Price, which during the same timeframe aired mostly George Gray episodes but included shows with the other guest announcers intact.)

Myth: The Portland weeks in May 2012 will be the show's inaugural trip there.
Fact: Stated in an official press release, and while true in the sense of taping episodes there and in respect to the nighttime show, it is actually the show's second trip there – the first, in August 1981 for the week of September 21, mainly consisted of recording location footage and auditioning contestants to be flown to Burbank.