We've seen many contestants fail when it comes to attempting to solve puzzles during Wheel of Fortune, but this one contestant just did a really, really good job at dominating the game show.
During Friday night's episode, contestant Robert Santoli was able to correctly solve an impossible puzzle with just one letter.
The category was "Places," and all that appeared on the board was an ampersand and the letter "D." With 12 titles blank, Santoli without hesitation clicked on his buzzer to guess "Port & Starboard." He was right.
While many might just think this was a lucky guess, Santoli had a real strategy planned. Santoli revealed on Reddit (username wheelgenius [of course]) that the second he learned about the nautical theme for the episode, he came up with list of possible phrases that could be featured in the puzzles.
He started by typing them into MS Word, and searched past episodes for any mention of the keywords "cruise," "fish," and "sea," making sure to note the dates. He then went to compendium to write down all the nautical themes puzzles from those weeks.
One of those phrases that came up for "Places" was port and starboard. Looks like a little bit of research payed off.
"Instead of listening for Pat to announce the category, I just look at the Used Letter Board since it shows up there about a second before he says it," Santoli writes. "I see that it's Places and I think "Could it really be PORT AND STARBOARD?" and then the blanks come up... with an ampersand where it's supposed to go! It's the answer after all! I can't believe it!
Santoli continues to solve impossible puzzles for the remainder of the show. He was able to solve the "Song Lyrics" with just three letters, and an eight word "Phrase" with just the letters "T," "H," and "E."
He won each round besides one, so at least he kind of gave the other two contestants a chance to play. We can't help but to notice how sad they look, especially next to the Santoli, who doesn't stop grinning from ear to ear.
This genius then made it to the prize round, where he correctly guessed "Goofy Pictures." Santoli then trolled host Pat Sajak, saying he would prefer if the prize envelop had anything but $33,000. Those who watch the show know how often this prize amount is given out, but instead the contestant won $45,000, with the total winnings coming in at $76,086.
Watch Robert Santoli, the Wheel of Fortune genius solve all these impossible puzzles in the clip below.
