Wheel of Fortune Contestant Makes Hilariously Wrong Guess During Holiday Puzzle: ‘Chocolate, Chestnuts and Chickens’

A Wheel of Fortune blunder is going viral after a contestant guessed a hilariously wrong answer.

During a holiday-themed episode that aired on Dec. 17, contestant Phil McManus made a laugh-out-loud mistake. McManus, who is from Palmer, Mass., seemed confident as he attempted to solve a puzzle which was in the “Same Letter” category. When the board next to Vanna White read, “Chocolate, Chestnuts & Chi_ne_s,“ host Ryan Seacrest asked McManus if he wanted to solve the puzzle — which contained all holiday-related words — or spin the wheel.

McManus chose to solve the three-word puzzle, answering, “Chocolate, Chestnuts and Chickens.” Immediately following his guess, a contestant named Matt Komma from Riverton, Utah, provided the correct answer: “Chocolate, Chestnuts and Chimneys.” Komma scored $4,200, while McManus lost $9,550 for his incorrect response.

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Viewers swiftly took to social media to roast McManus for the flub. 

“That was my shopping list last weekend,” one X (formerly Twitter) user joked, while another viewer wrote on Instagram: “I was screaming at the TV.”

“I laughed so loud that my deaf dog jumped out of her bed 🤣,” someone else wrote in the same Instagram thread.

Incorrect answer aside, appearing on the show marked a major life milestone for McManus, who shared with Seacrest, 49, and viewers that he was diagnosed with cancer two years ago and “handed a death sentence.” He said that after his diagnosis, he made a bucket list of three things: attending a Blink-182 reunion concert, going to WrestleMania and visiting Disneyland.

“I’d never been to Disneyland, and I actually went last night for the first time,” he said, while also revealing that he is now in remission.

McManus isn’t the first contestant to commit a viral fail on the iconic game show. On the Nov. 11 episode, a contestant named Will attempted to solve the puzzle “Give yourself a round of applause” with, “Treat yourself a round of sausage,” per a clip shared on X.

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After Will’s “missolve,” his fellow contestant Katina answered correctly.

“Will, I kind of like yours better,” Seacrest joked afterward, adding, “That sounds better than just clapping right now.”