Wheel Of Fortune / Tropes P to Z

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P

• Painful Rhyme: Pat has begun making fun of the Rhyme Time category since Season 34 whenever the answer is two or three non-sequitur things that rhyme.
• Percussive Maintenance: On an episode shortly after the touch-based puzzle board was introduced, one of the monitors malfunctioned. Vanna had to resort to hitting the board with her fist before it finally cooperated.
• Pie in the Face: Pat and Vanna exchanged pies in the face in the tag ending of a 1991 Cruise Week show. Spawns a Call-Back in the tag of a later show when Vanna mentions that she's wearing the same outfit she had on when Pat pied her.
• Pilot: The first, Shopper's Bazaar, taped in 1973 with Woolery and focused more on the prizes than the puzzles (in addition to having a vertical Wheel instead of a horizontal one). A subsequent pair taped in 1974 were much closer to the final product, but with the shopping prizes behind the puzzle board and a drunk Edd "Kookie" Byrnes hosting.
• Player Nudge:
  • When a contestant is holding a Wild Card and calls a correct letter on the top dollar value, Pat will usually convince them to use the card for another letter at that same value. Notably, contestants only seem to use it when he does this (except for its first season of use where several players used it on three-digit amounts). On some occasions, he forgets; on others, he convinces them to use it on non-top dollar amounts; and on at least one occasion, he was about to convince a player to use it on $3,500, but was cut off by him asking to solve.
  • If a contestant buys a vowel and the puzzle has at least one more vowel yet to be revealed, Pat will usually say something to the effect of "You can buy another."
  • When a puzzle nears completion and all the multiples are gone, Pat will often try to indirectly entice the contestant to solve by recapping their current score followed by something along the lines of "What do you think?".
  • More prevalent in the 80's, when the show's rule set wasn't second nature to all players: after a player's turn ended with a puzzle at near-completion, if the next player looked indecisive about spinning or solving, Pat would remind them they could solve without having to spin.
  • If a contestant asks to solve while using the Express wedge, Pat will remind them they can call letters until the puzzle is completed for maximum earnings.
  • When a contestant is ready to solve a Crossword Clue, Pat will tell them "say everything, don't add anything", which is a reminder to the contestant that even adding "and" before the final word would nullify their response.
• Press X to Die:
  • There's a Used Letter Board out of camera view to show contestants which letters have been used already (contestants can often be seen looking to the side to check it before choosing their letter). If, despite this, a contestant calls a letter that's already been picked, they forfeit their turn (unless, of course, the contestant hit Free Play).
  • However, they're at least kind enough to inform contestants if all of the vowels in the puzzle have been revealed, even if all five haven't been bought yet, or if there are only vowels left. Even so, this has failed to stop at least one contestant.
  • Sometimes contestants forget to add an "S" on a pluralized word when solving, or vice versa. This got subverted at least once during a Teen Best Friends week where one contestant rang in on a Toss-Up and said CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIE, with her partner quickly adding the S to form the correct answer. Other contestants that have attempted this in recent years are not credited with the solve.
  • When solving a Crossword Puzzle, adding an "and" while listing the intersecting words is not acceptable, even if the words themselves were correct.
  • On Wheel 2000 and some foreign versions, calling a letter in a Bonus Round's original package forfeits that pick.
  • On the show proper until the late 1990's, and in most of the video games, calling a vowel after spinning resulted in a lost turn.
  • A literal example from the Nintendo 64 game: choosing the "Buy a Vowel" option when having less than $250 results in the player being buzzed and losing their turn instantly. However, this does not happen if the player tries to buy a vowel after all five vowels have been bought.
• Press X to Not Die:
  • The Free Spin served as this trope. Upon losing their turn, a player could turn it in to keep control rather than have play pass to the next player.
    • This trope was invoked literally in the Nintendo 64 game. While most Wheel video games would use a "Yes or No" prompt for using a Free Spin, this version gave the player five seconds to press the A button after a lost turn if they wished to use it. Not pressing A in time resulted in control passing on.
  • If a contestant gives an incorrect solution to a puzzle, they can quickly give another attempt if neither Pat nor the producers (via the buzzer) have made any comments about the wrong answer. This worked in one contestant's favor in a 2012 episode, where she initially left off the "CASE" when solving the Before & After puzzle LOWERCASE LETTER CARRIER, then gave the correct answer just before Pat could rule her incorrect.
• Product Placement:
  • The Gift Tag, used from 2000-2023, is a small tag that bears the logo of a sponsor, and awards a $1,000 cash bonus or gift certificate towards that company's product (or on rare occasion, $500 cash and $500 in product).
  • The Sony Card used to be ubiquitous, along with the Sony Rewards program, since the show is produced by Sony Pictures Television.
  • A few episodes in Season 25 used a separate People category in honor of People magazine. The puzzles were show business-related answers that could be found in the magazine.
  • In the early 2010's, Maxwell House sometimes sponsored the Bonus Round. Any wins resulted in the company donating $2,500 to an announced charity (Feeding America or Rebuilding Together).
  • Throughout Season 31, Sony cameras were provided along with Prize Puzzle trips.
  • Providers for trips are often promoted in the copy, such as Collette Vacations.
  • The first NES game has unused sprites of the Coca-Cola logo. Merv Griffin Enterprises was owned by The Coca-Cola Company while the game was in development.
  • In recent years, several movies produced by Sony Pictures are involved in Movie Title or Show Biz puzzles around the time of their release. They also often appear as a Prize Wedge on episodes that air around the time of their release on Blu-ray and digital. Notably, every single Spider-Man movie starting with The Amazing Spider-Man (except its sequel) has been a Movie Title puzzle not long after its release.
  • The Margaritaville-sponsored weeks are chock full of promotions for Jimmy Buffett's music. Most Song Lyrics puzzles during these episodes are from his songs. One week even replaced the usual closing theme music with excerpts from one of his recent albums.
  • Because Wheel is carried mostly on ABC stations, promotions for ABC's parent company, Disney, are common. The October 6, 2021 episode featured Pepe the King Prawn of The Muppets promoting Muppets Haunted Mansion, which premiered on Disney+ two days later and features a brief appearance by Pat. This episode was rescheduled since it would have been pre-empted on its originally-planned date on KABC-TV in Los Angeles (an ABC O&O station, therefore owned by Disney) by Monday Night Football.
• Progressive Jackpot:
  • The Jackpot wedge, of course. It started at $5,000 and had the value of each spin added to it; to win it, the contestant had to hit the Jackpot wedge, call a correct letter, then solve right away. Retired at the end of Season 30.
  • From 1986-88 on the daytime show, a different Jackpot was played. Similar to the nighttime Prize wedge (picked up when landed on, had to avoid Bankrupt and then solve the puzzle to claim the prize), this Jackpot was an accruing cash prize that began at $1,000 and increased by $1,000 per show until won.
  • Played straight by the Spanish version using the "Bote" wedge (which works pretty much the same as the nighttime Jackpot on the American show described above), but also inverted with the "Prueba de Velocidad Decreciente" (Decreasing Speed Round)—a Toss-up puzzle valued at 2,000 euros that decreases by a set amount for each letter revealed in the puzzle. The player who solves the puzzle wins whatever is showing on the counter when they solve.
• Punny Name: On May 29, 2019, the red podium's contestant's name is Brenda "Happi" Ness. Yes, Happi is her actual middle name.
• Put on a Bus:
  • The "Rock On!" category, in part because Pat would always let Charlie introduce it in a deep "rock DJ" voice.
  • Chuck and Susan both got legitimate and wonderful sendoffs, but they're pretty much treated this way by the show now. Goen and Wheel 2000 didn't get proper sendoffs, as neither knew their ends were happening. And while Benirschke's last day had the full credit roll typical of NBC game show finales, Rolf didn't get a proper sendoff because CBS hadn't said "No, we want Goen" yet.
  • Many categories tend to disappear entirely for long stretches of time.
  • Team weeks became this after Season 37 was cut short by the COVID-19 Pandemic. They finally returned in Season 40.
  • The show used to travel a bunch of times every season. This was slowly phased out in recent seasons due to increasing travel costs, smaller production budgets and Pat/Vanna aging.

R

• Rattling Off Legal: Back in the shopping era, the announcer's sign-off was prefaced with "The prices of the prizes have been furnished to the contestants prior to the show and have been rounded off to the nearest dollar. Gift certificates do not include sales tax."
• Rearrange the Song:
  • The show's second (not counting pilots) theme, Griffin's own "Changing Keys" (introduced in August 1983), was re-orchestrated in 1984 (less "chirpy" sound, glissando added to intro), 1989 (mellower instrumentation), 1992 (mellower yet, except for the electric guitar solo), 1994 ("big band" mix with a radically different melody) and 1997 (similar to 1994, but slower tempo) with the last two remixes barely resembling the original. To the fandom's surprise, a new remix of "Changing Keys" was reinstated in 2021.
  • The "big band" theme from 1994 also had many alternate mixes: a softer mix used for a celebrity week and some road shows (and sometimes as a bumper), a marching band version for episodes taped on the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1995, another marching band version for College Weeks, and a lap steel guitar version for weeks taped in Hawaii.
  • "Maximum Drive", the theme for most road shows between 1996 and 2008, was rearranged multiple times in its life.
  • "Happy Wheels", first introduced in September 2000, was remixed in 2002 and again in 2007. The 2002 mix even sampled the 1997 "Changing Keys".
  • Even the Think Music (Speed-Up, Bonus Round) has been remixed a few times.
• Recycled Script: Invoked on April 6, 2011, where in honor of "Going Green" week each puzzle was "recycled" from an older episode. They even lampshaded this a bit by showing a clip from an older episode when the blank puzzle was revealed.
• Recycled Soundtrack:
  • One of Alan Thicke's prize cues was "Hip Check", the theme of Blank Check.
  • One prize cue introduced in 1983 was "Frisco Disco", the theme to the 1978-79 revival of Jeopardy! Another, "Buzzword", was rearranged and became the theme to Merv Griffin's Crosswords; the cue itself was used originally for an unsold Griffin pilot called Buzzword hosted by Arizona news anchor Ron Hoon for NBC in 1986 (here's a ticket).
• Replaced the Theme Tune: "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" to "Give It One" to "Big Wheels" to "Changing Keys" to "Happy Wheels" to an untitled theme to "Changing Keys" again.
• Retired Game Show Element: Several, as far back as Buy a Vowel in the show's early days, with the shopping round likely the most famous example in the medium. See that page for details.
• Rhyming with Itself: At least twice, TONIGHT'S THE NIGHT has been a Rhyme Time puzzle.
• Rouge Angles of Satin: Yes, the one game show on which spelling is of the utmost priority has messed up.
  • Early 1989: A puzzle misspells Charley Pride's name as "Charlie".
  • A November 1992 episode had the bonus puzzle FOG HORN, which is actually one word.
  • On November 14, 2003, the bonus puzzle answer was PIECE OF MIND; they were obviously going for PEACE OF MIND but conflated it with A PIECE OF YOUR MIND.
  • April 26, 2010 had WAIT A WHILE in the bonus round. While "a while" is a legitimate way to use the term, it must be used with a preposition (e.g. "for"); the proper way to use the term in this case would be as one word, "awhile".
  • On November 28, 2013, the bonus puzzle was BABYPROOFING, which is supposed to be hyphenated.
  • Incorrect hyphenation is sometimes a problem. One early episode had a hyphen in BACHELOR'S-BUTTON for no reason, and they've inexplicably hyphenated JINGLE-BELL ROCK (at least twice), WIND-CHILL FACTOR, AMUSEMENT-PARK FUN HOUSE and COFFEE-TABLE BOOK, among others.
  • Inconsistency in recycled puzzles ^note (something Merv Griffin and others on the staff claimed they wanted to avoid) has also been a problem. Example: A 1979 daytime episode had the puzzle "FOURSCORE AND SEVEN YEARS AGO"; in 1987, it was reused on a daytime episode as "FOUR SCORE AND SEVEN YEARS AGO" (with a space between the words "FOUR" and "SCORE").
    • Prior to sometime in the late 1970s, there were no punctuation marks, meaning (for instance) it was possible to have a puzzle read FISHERMANS WHARF or DONT SQUEEZE THE CHARMIN.
• Rule of Three: The triple Toss-Up round will have a theme running for the three answers.
• Rules Spiel:
  • From the Shopping era: "Be careful not to hit Bankrupt because if you do, you lose your cash but not your merchandise because once you buy a prize, it's yours to keep."
  • Before Speed-Up rounds: "[That sound means time is running out.] I'll give the Wheel a final spin. I'll ask you to give me a letter and if it's in the puzzle, you'll have three seconds (five until 1999) to solve it. Vowels worth nothing, consonants worth — (beginning in October 1999) we'll add a thousand to that, $[dollar amount] apiece. Again, [Category Title] is the category for this round. [Contestant], it's still your turn; a letter."
  • Until Toss-Up Puzzles were introduced: "Just before the show, we drew numbers to see who would start."
  • "We are playing for cash." — Pat used this after shopping was ousted and still found it necessary until ten years after the change.
• Running Gag: Pat has several. Among them:
  • During the closing chat, Pat loves to intentionally get the name of Vanna's pet cat, Stella, wrong.
  • Using "El Niño" Is Spanish for "The Niño" during interviews ("You live in Los Alamos, which is Spanish for 'The Alamos'."), or whenever a Spanish-named town is used in a puzzle.
  • Using Pluralses whenever a plural category comes up.
  • Pat will hand the contestant a broom to sweep up the confetti after a $100,000/$1,000,000 win.
  • Pat telling contestants not to worry about Vanna because "she gets paid by the letter."
  • Pat saying that the money lost due to a bankrupt would be going into the "Christmas party fund."
  • Pat will occasionally joke about the show's budget if there is a greater possibility of big winnings, or if a lot of money has already been won.
    • In the Season 6 premiere, the lights went out briefly after a contestant solved the bonus puzzle and finished with a then-massive $78,097 in cash and prizes. Pat claimed they couldn't afford electricity anymore.
    • In the Season 19 premiere, Pat announced that every W-H-E-E-L envelope would remain in play all week regardless of whether any of the prizes are won, and they could go out of business by mid-November. Just before November though, the Bonus Wheel and $100,000 prize each made their debut.
  • If a contestant is completely silent on a difficult bonus puzzle, Pat will claim that he was thinking the same thing after time runs out. Sometimes he will joke that the contestant was very close.
  • Comically Missing the Point on the Prize Puzzle, and making the contestant believe they've won a booby prize themed to the puzzle instead of a trip.
  • Saying "beep beep" or "S/he'll be right down!" after the car horn sound effect whenever a ½ Car tag is landed on. Similarly, if a contestant has only one of the ½ Car tags after Round 3 (the last round in which they are available), Pat often jokes that it will be parked in the ½ garage.
  • Joking about the Speed-Up music, particularly if the round is taking a long time.
  • Something along the lines of "There would be a federal investigation if you had gotten this" after a contestant fails to solve a bonus puzzle because the letters they picked weren't helpful.
  • Saying that the answer to the puzzle was also his nickname in high school, particularly if it involves an adjective ending in Y (such as HEAVY DUMBBELL, LIGHT AND FLUFFY, and PUDGY CHEEKS).
  • If a Things puzzle takes the form "Xs and Ys", he will sometimes say "Alive, alive-o" after it's solved (referencing the line "cockles and mussels, alive, alive-o" in the folk song "Molly Malone").
  • Every Spring, he tells a joke along the lines of "I thought I saw the first robin of Spring, but it turned out to be a pigeon with a chapped breast." Lampshaded in April 2012, where he said that it was the 14th year in a row he'd done that joke.
  • "You could buy an alphabet." when a contestant buys a vowel after gaining a lot of spendable cash, usually due to calling a letter that appears more than once on the top dollar value.
  • When a Rhyme Time puzzle of the "two or more random things that rhyme" format (example: BEES FLEAS AND MANATEES) is solved, saying that a similar joke puzzle that never actually existed (like DOGS FROGS AND WARTHOGS) was used earlier on the show.
  • If several wrong answers are given in a Speed-Up, Pat will often reference the "Who said anything about a horse?!" incident.
  • On the episode closest to April 21, Pat will often acknowledge the birthday of both his wife, Lesly, and producer Harry Friedman's wife, Judy, in some creative fashion.
  • Every time the Prize Puzzle offers a trip to Antigua, Pat references the fact that the staff has to write "Antigua" phonetically on his card due to him always mispronouncing it.
  • Every time the show does Teacher's Week, casual viewers complain about the spelling of the week's name, insisting that the apostrophe should go after the S, not before. Pat has acknowledged these complaints multiple times on social media and the show itself, defending their spelling, since both spellings are correct (akin to "Mother's Day").
  • If a Toss-Up goes unsolved, Pat will either make the "Christmas party fund" joke, or he will claim that he'll pocket the money himself.
• Running Gagged: Whenever there was a $100,000+ win during Season 38, Mike Richards was credited as "Mike 'Confetti' Richards". This practice stopped after Mike's departure from Sony, and a weekend rerun was edited to remove the gag from the credits.
• Rushmore Refacement: Done as a credits gag in 2010, with Pat's face replacing Lincoln's.

S

• Same Language Dub:
  • Averted with Jack Clark, who left both versions in early May 1988 (with Charlie O'Donnell and Johnny Gilbert filling in) and died July 21. While the Summer repeats began with him doing the newly-recorded Promotional Consideration plugs before the credits, Pat and Vanna began doing them once it became evident that Clark was too ill to announce anymore. By September 5, M.G. Kelly had taken over as announcer.
  • Since the show tapes in a very out-of-order fashion, Charlie ended up announcing 40 episodes that didn't air until after his death. Wheel dubbed him over with different announcers and edited out or dubbed over any direct references to him. 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". In Summer 2011, Jim Thornton was dubbed over the other guest announcers (although reruns of episodes originally aired before Charlie's death kept him, including the weekend feed). The official reason was to "establish" Jim.
  • In early 2013, the show used unaired outtakes from the intro of a 2011 episode as the opening retro clip and, despite this and the week not being reshown in Summer 2011, dubbed Jim over John Cramer.
• Scenery Porn: Some of the specially-themed weeks are given rather intricate set pieces. They go all-out on Halloween week with gag tombstones, animatronic gargoyles, a haunted house, smoke and lights, various "spooky" sound effects in the Bonus Round, etc.
  • The large screen behind the contestants serves this purpose.
• Screw the Rules, I Make Them!: Pat resorted to this with the puzzle DESE DEM AND DOSE GUYS on October 17, 1989. After it was fully revealed, a contestant read the first word as "desi" instead of a thickly-accented "these". Then-producer Nancy Jones asks him to say it again, and he does with the same mispronunciation. Pat just says "Listen, he's got all the letters up, I'm taking it." Interestingly, his ruling affects the outcome of the game; the contestant banked $600 from the round and would go onto win the game by $550.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Pat has pretended to pull this at least three times when a contestant did something humorous:
  • February 2001: Pat asks a Hawaiian contestant, "What was that noise you made earlier?", prompting the contestant to look behind himself curiously as Pat shouts "Good night, everybody" and pretends to walk offstage
  • January 2011: A contestant loses the Bonus Round and, before Pat can reveal what prize he lost, the contestant blurts out "show me something small". The contestant takes the envelope after Pat drops it, and reveals that he lost $100,000.
  • November 2014: one team thought the answer to the puzzle was RIDING A BROWN HORSE, and the next thought it was RIDING A WHITE HORSE early in the round; Pat pretended to walk off-set and shouted, "Who said anything about a horse?!" (the actual answer was SEEING A BUDDY MOVIE).
• Sdrawkcab Name: Pat has Played for Laughs a couple times.
  • October 31, 1988: Pat looks at the Prize on the Wheel and notes that it says "telecarb" before turning his head the opposite direction and realizing that it says "bracelet". This causes M.G. Kelly to laugh his way through the description.
  • On September 12, 1996, while discussing the Jackpot round that debuted the next Monday. Pat held the wedge upside-down and said that "Beginning next week, we have our Topkcaj..." before Vanna took it from him and turned it right-side-up.
• Self-Deprecation:
  • After a contestant said that she had a job that paid the most for the least amount of work, Pat snarked, "no, that would be game show host."
  • Vanna, after looking at the wrong arrow during the Final Spin on her first episode of hosting: "How do you do this show?!"
• Shaped Like Itself:
  • Done at least twice with the Place category: a late-1988 nighttime episode had a Place puzzle of SECRET HIDING PLACE, and a 1999 Bonus Round had the answer WORKPLACE in that category. Also, a 1986 daytime episode had TO COIN A PHRASE as a Phrase.
  • TOSS UP PUZZLE was a Toss-Up puzzle on April 17, 2001.
  • On January 2, 2018, a Crossword Round in the category of "____ Check" actually had BLANK as one of the words.
  • On Season 3, Episode 4 of Celebrity Wheel (#PT-305), the first two Triple Toss-Up puzzles were two of the contestants' own names (TIG NOTARO and THOMAS LENNON). Ironically, their opponent, Nikki Glaser, solved both of them. For the third one, Notaro buzzed in immediately, assuming it would be NIKKI GLASER, but fell for a Bait-and-Switch when the answer was actually NICK NOLTE, which Glaser also solved.
• Shoulders-Up Nudity: Wheel was a notable exception in that its model (i.e., Vanna White) never posed in a Modesty Towel while displaying prizes such a sauna or hot tub ^note (although she did once wear a rather modest one-piece swimsuit during a prize description of a patio package whose centerpiece was an in-ground swimming pool; she was swimming in the pool, justifying her choice of clothing), there was one very large exception. In 1987, Vanna — along with Pat Sajak — sat in a hot tub that was on the stage during the close, and both were shirtless. Vanna (possibly wearing a bikini top in reality) was sitting in a way where only her bare shoulders were visible above the top edge of the hot tub, and thus to the audience; Sajak was bare chested, and both remained that way through the closing segment and credits.
• Shout-Out:
  • Several to sister show Jeopardy!, including ALEX TREBEK as a puzzle in Season 7, a Clue puzzle of THERE ARE TWO DAILY DOUBLES IN THIS ROUND in Season 10 (for which the contestant correctly identified Double Jeopardy!), JEOPARDY as a bonus puzzle in Season 12, JEOPARDY PREMIERES (categorized as The 60's) and FINAL JEOPARDY both in Season 13, BE SURE YOUR RESPONSE IS IN THE FORM OF A QUESTION in Season 16 and JEOPARDY! HOST ALEX TREBEK in Season 26 (coinciding with Canada Week).
  • The category Rhyme Time appeared on Jeopardy! frequently before it appeared on Wheel. Jeopardy! returned the favor by adopting Before & After, which works just like its Wheel counterpart.
  • On March 9, 2004, SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS was a Fictional Character puzzle. After it was solved, Pat remarked "What do you mean 'fictional character'?" and proceeded to quote the entire theme song. Later, when Pat's Final Spin landed on $5,000, he quipped, "Mr. Krabs would be upset we're giving away that much."
  • Several puzzles have been meta-Shout Outs, including VANNA AND SNOW WHITE (1988), VANNA & EGG WHITE (daytime, 1989), PAT AND LESLY SAJAK (1989), CHARLIE O'DONNELL (1994), PAT I'D LIKE TO SOLVE THE PUZZLE (April Fools' Day 1997), WHEEL OF FORTUNE GOES NIGHTTIME (1998), VANNA WHITE GOLD (2002), and CERAMIC DALMATIAN (2014). They even actually had WHEEL OF FORTUNE as a Toss-Up in 2001, causing Pat to claim that they've "officially run out of puzzles, apparently".
  • The episode of Celebrity Wheel of Fortune featuring Vanna White, Mayim Bialik, and Ken Jennings included I WANT TO USE A LIFELINE, NO WHAMMIES!, and SURVEY SAYS! as a trio of game show-themed Toss-Ups, followed later by FINAL JEOPARDY!.
• Show the Folks at Home:
  • The short-lived Preview Puzzle, used only in Season 17. A partially filled in puzzle was shown to the home audience, and after the intro, Vanna would reveal the answer on the puzzle board.
  • Done with the Mystery Wedges from second month of Season 23 through Season 37. Originally, the home audience was always shown what was on the other side of a Mystery Wedge if one was landed on. From Season 31 through Season 37, they were shown only if the contestant declined to flip it over.
  • Beginning in Season 36, all letter guesses are accompanied by a subtitle-like graphic displaying that letter.
• Signs of Disrepair: In the trilon board era, Pat changed the Bonus Round solution to say something else at least three times during the credits.
  • May 1985 (nighttime): FRANK SINATRA became RANK RATS.
  • February 14, 1986 (daytime): NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS became NEW GLAND.
  • April 27, 1987 (daytime): BEST MAN became BEAST.
• Sound-Effect Bleep:
  • A contestant on a 1989 episode trying to guess the bonus puzzle FANCY THAT accidentally said "twat", which was censored with the Pyramid cuckoo.
  • October 19, 1998: When trying to identify the person described by the "Who Is It?" puzzle SUNDANCE KID WHO LATER WON BEST PICTURE OSCAR, contestant Nick drops an F-bomb which is censored by a "boing".
  • On January 7, 2013, a contestant forgot that Round 3 was a Prize Puzzle; after being told so by Pat, she exclaimed "Oh crap, I forgot!" The word "Crap" was censored out by the show's buzzer.
• Speed Round:
  • The Speed-Up round (Final Spin). Vowels worth nothing, consonants worth the amount landed on (plus $1,000 since 1999). Unlike most examples of this trope, Speed-Ups have no overall time limit (although apparently they did very early on), only the three seconds (originally five) that a player is given to solve if they find a letter.
  • Another variant is the Express wedge, introduced in Season 31. Whenever a contestant hits the wedge, they can opt to keep playing normally, or stop spinning and keep calling consonants for $1,000 a pop and buying vowels. A wrong letter or incorrect solve has the same effect as landing on Bankrupt.
• Split Screen: Always used during Speed-Ups (contestants on top and puzzle on bottom, although early episodes had this reversed), and on Toss-Ups for all but their first season of use.
• Spoiler:
  • Although the show is not allowed to air earlier than 7:00 PM Eastern in the United States, there is a small station based in Newfoundland, Canada (CJON-TV, branded as "NTV") that airs the show at 3:30 PM Eastern. Canadian fans with access to this station occasionally post spoilers about that day's episode on social media before it airs in the U.S., and in more recent years, recordings of these early broadcasts often show up on YouTube almost immediately, allowing more fans to see the episode early.
  • Starting with Season 3 of Celebrity Wheel, the show's social media pages (separate from the regular show's) will often promote the next episode with a photo of two of the celebrities sitting at a small table with drinks, sometimes posing with Vanna. Since this is where each game's losers sit as the winner plays the Bonus Round, these photos spoil that a certain celebrity will win at least one of the two games.
  • To date, every single million dollar win has been spoiled several days prior with endless hinting by the show's social media pages, promos, and even game show fans with inside knowledge. The second win was even hinted by then-producer Harry Friedman when he told fans to "stay tuned" when asked about million dollar winners in an interview. By now, it's safe to say that if someone takes the Million Dollar Wedge to the Bonus Round, they won't be winning the million if there weren't several hints dropped online beforehand.
    • Exaggerated with Melissa Joan Hart's million dollar win on Celebrity Wheel of Fortune in October 2021. The very first promo for Season 2 featured Pat showing off the envelope and an ecstatic Vanna with BRAN MUFFINS spelled out on the board behind her. Later promos showed confetti falling with the winner just out of frame, although Hart's two opponents could be seen standing behind the Wheel, indirectly giving away which episode the win would be, as well as who would win the million. In the week leading up to the episode, the show posted several more spoilers on social media, outright saying that somebody would win the million, with the only mystery being who it would be (if one did not deduce it from previous promos), and new promos aired announcing the win, including one that was edited into airings of the syndicated show on ABC affiliates. The show even sent out a mass Email to Wheel Watchers Club members announcing the win hours before the episode aired.
  • On current-day episodes, if two contestants in a row either call a wrong or repeated consonant, hit Lose a Turn, or hit Bankrupt when having nothing to lose and the third contestant in line spins a dollar amount, it is a near-guarantee that the letter called on this spin will be in the puzzle, otherwise the cycle would have been edited out for time. This can be anticlimactic if, say, the red and yellow contestants hit Lose a Turn back-to-back and the blue contestant hits the top dollar value.
  • Whenever the Bonus Round is lost, Pat almost-always spoils when the envelope is $100,000 by opening it, cringing, then quickly closing it and attempting to stall before showing it to the camera.
  • From Seasons 18-24, if one looked closely at the Wheel during the wide shot before the pre-Round 4 Toss-Up, if the Wheel had only one Bankrupt wedge, this would foreshadow that Round 4 would start with the Final Spin, meaning that Pat has one less invalid wedge to land on. If the second Bankrupt wedge was present, the round would start with regular play. After this period, the second Bankrupt was now always removed, only for it to be changed to always present starting in Season 27.
  • The Maxwell House plugs in Season 27: if they aired before the Bonus Round, it was a loss; if they did not, it was a win, and would air afterward. The plugs started in January 2014 originally followed the same pattern, but later averted it.
  • The week of November 15, 2010 was sponsored by Sears and featured a home viewer sweepstakes. A promo for said sweepstakes showed a clip of a woman solving the bonus puzzle OPEN-DOOR POLICY, which did not air until November 18. Later similar promos would use footage of Bonus Rounds from previous episodes.
  • In a March 2012 episode, after a contestant lost the $100,000, Pat said in the closing segment, "We've given away the $100,000 this season", even though that hadn't happened yet by airing order. The episode referred to was taped beforehand, but would not air for another month.
  • From the early 2000's through the late 2010's, the show's website would feature a "contestant blog" every week written by one of the week's players. The featured contestant was almost-always someone who won their game.
  • Until Season 31, when a contestant had to decide whether to flip a Mystery Wedge, its reverse would often be shown to the viewers before the decision was made. After that point, it was only shown when the wedge was not flipped, and never until after such decision was made. In Season 37, they stopped showing the reverse altogether.
  • From about Seasons 32-38, if the blue contestant is in control at the time a round goes to Speed-Up, the Final Spin would usually land on or close to whatever wedge the blue contestant was on, due to Pat's spin strength.
  • For the week of April 16-20, 2018, the show held a special sweepstakes in which each day's winner would have their final total matched to a Wheel Watchers Club member. On the show's website, there was an "Official Rules" document stating that the home viewer prizes would be valued "up to $75,550", heavily implying this would be the week's highest winner's total. When Monday through Thursday went by, all with Bonus Round losses and final totals significantly less than said value, Friday rolled around with the winner going to the Bonus Round with $25,550, spoiling to anyone who read the document that she would win the Bonus Round with the rare $50,000 envelope. Also, she took the Million Dollar Wedge to the Bonus Round, also spoiling that the million would not be won (or lost).
  • Most Secret Santa episodes begin with a montage of clips. Usually, these are from previous seasons, but the Season 38 edition featured clips from those episodes, mostly before they aired. One such clip featured a contestant with a total of $20,750 after Round 2, an above-average score for that point in the game, and typically a winning score. The episode from which this clip was taken was the last episode of the two-week period, and indeed, that contestant won the game by a landslide.
• Stealth Pun: The Triple Toss-Ups on December 13, 2019 in the category of "Food & Drink" had this: PEPPERONI PIZZA, PICKLED PEPPERS, and DOUBLE HELPING OF PEAS. Each of the previous two answers had two sets of the letter P in it; i.e., a "double helping of P's".
• Stock Sound Effect: The current "Final Spin" bell, in use since 1989, is a commonly-used sound effect for a ship's bell.
• Suddenly Shouting: Charlie O'Donnell. Starting in the late 1990s, if someone won the $25,000 in the Bonus Round, he would let them know that they'd just won "twenty-five THOOOOOOOUUUUSAND dollars!" This, of course, also applies to any other amount of money won ever since figures higher than $25,000 were offered starting in 2001-02. Averted with Jack Clark and Jim Thornton, who have more subdued deliveries.
• Suspiciously Similar Substitute: Many licensed Wheel video games use a generic host and hostess to avoid paying royalties for using Pat and Vanna's likenesses. The 2017 Ubisoft game is guilty of this, as are the most recent arcade editions of Wheel, which feature full motion video of much younger female models standing in for Vanna, and announcers that are clearly not Pat, Charlie O'Donnell, or Jim Thornton.

T

• Take That!:
  • November 29, 1995: From an episode where Johnny Gilbert filled in for an ill Charlie:
  Pat: This is not like Jeopardy!, you know. If somebody wins something, they actually take their money home. Not like Jeopardy!, where if you finish in second place with $10,000, you get a lounge chair!
  Johnny: But it's a $10,000 lounge chair.
  Pat: ...I think I struck a nerve.
  • September 22, 2003: Before the $3,000 Toss-Up, Pat said "there are shows on Game Show Network that don't give that away in a month!" (Which is also Biting-the-Hand Humor — Sony owns GSN.)
  • March 10, 2009: In a Family Week episode, the yellow team solves the Speed-Up puzzle PLEASE REPEAT AFTER ME less than 1/10th of a second after the buzzer. The blue team then solves; Pat states that the scores are only tentative, and this also determined if the red team really would be going to the Bonus Round. Cue Pat saying "It's like reality TV but without all the fake stuff!"
  • November 20, 2012: Following the $3,000 Toss-Up I WANT MY MTV, Pat explained to younger viewers that MTV is a network that used to play music videos.
  • April 29, 2013: On the first of 20 episodes taped in New York City, Pat hauled out a giant soft drink cup labeled "32 oz" and took a drink from it, to poke fun at the city's then-recent "Soda Ban" proposition, which would have banned sales of soft drink portions greater than 16 ounces.
• Tempting Fate:
  • On October 21, 2003, a contestant had _____PS showing in the Bonus Round. Pat quipped "If you solve this, I'm retiring." After a few seconds, the contestant blurted out the right answer of HICCUPS.
  • November 28, 2011: A contestant has GLO_E showing in the bonus round. Pat says "Well, I'm gonna be surprised if you don't get this." With that setup, there's a 50/50 shot it's either GLOBE or GLOVE — guess one, and if Pat says no, guess the other. She guesses GLOVE before the timer starts, is told that it's wrong, then spends the entire 10 seconds in silence.
  • February 25, 2014: The Speed-Up puzzle is displaying T_____T_______, and Pat jokingly dares the contestant to solve. She randomly said THOUGHTFULNESS, which was correct.
  • January 15, 2015: A contestant worries about landing on Free Play, but Pat reassures her that she'll be fine even if she calls a "crummy letter". She calls H, which she had already called on her previous turn.
• Thememobile: The contestant coordinators travel cross-country in a "Wheelmobile" (a specially-designed Winnebago), making stops at various venues to hold contestant auditions.
• Think Music: A light music bed plays under Toss-Ups and the Speed-Up round since the 2000s. Also, a 10-second beeping timer initially played during the Bonus Round, but it has been replaced by another music bed.
• Tick Tock Tune: The Bonus Round music bed has a ticking clock sound in it. The Speed-Up round has a faster one.
• Tiebreaker Round: Originally, nighttime ties were broken by a Speed Up round between the tied contestants. Since the introduction of Toss-Ups, a fourth Toss-Up is used instead. A tiebreaker Speed Up was also used on one episode of Wheel 2000, although without a Final Spin as that version was played for points. Some recollections mention one happening in the Goen era.
• Timed Mission: The Bonus Round must be solved within 10 seconds (15 seconds until 1988). Also, the three seconds (five until 1998) that contestants get to solve the puzzle in the Speed-Up round.
• Title Scream: The pre-recorded "Wheel! Of! Fortune!" chant that has begun nearly every episode since 1983.
• Too Awesome to Use:
  • The Wild Card. Although it is picked up off the Wheel in most episodes, it is rarely actually used. Most often, it is either lost to Bankrupt, or it ends up not being used at all with the contestant who earned it not making it to the Bonus Round. When it does get used, it's mostly in the Bonus Round as a result of the contestant avoiding Bankrupts and having no beneficial opportunities to use it during the main game. Since the card lets you call a second consonant without having to spin again, arguably the only good time to use it is when the player is sitting on the top dollar value. In addition, most of its uses in the main game are due to inconsistent player nudges by Pat.
  • In the Shopper's Bazaar pilot, one contestant earned a Free Spin and continually had opportunities to use it to keep her turn, but she declined every time and ended up never using it before the game ended.
• Totally Radical:
  • The "Slang" category (1992-95), where the slang used was almost always dated, obscure, or just plain nonexistent ("OFF THE BEAM", "LET'S CUT OUT OF HERE", "THE BLAHS", etc.).
  • Still happens now and then. A Teen Best Friends week in February 2011 had TOTALLY AWESOME WATER PARK as a Prize Puzzle (which makes it worse since Prize Puzzles aren't exactly known for their quality [or quantity of hits on Google]), and the puzzles all week were (sometimes poorly) skewed towards teens in general.
  • Painfully present on Wheel 2000: Place became Globetrotter, any puzzle about grammar became Word Rap, and Thing became Just Stuff. The Wheel on that version also had Bankrupt and Lose A Turn renamed "Creature" and "Loser", respectively. Oh, and it had no budget. Radical!
  • On the May 31, 2019 episode, a female contestant said that she goes to a lot of concerts "and it's totally rad."
• Trailers Always Spoil:
  • The show's promos sent to local affiliates, both the weekly and daily variants, usually show contestants landing on or picking up prizes, the $10,000 side of the Mystery Wedge, or the Million-Dollar Wedge, or celebrating after solving a puzzle with their score in plain sight. They also often feature contestants screaming after Pat tells them they've won a trip, spoiling which contestant wins the Prize Puzzle (and likely that episode's game). Starting in Season 41, almost all promos are now generic and use clips from previous episodes.
  • Many promos feature a close-up shot of Vanna clapping or celebrating while standing to the left of a puzzle, usually showing the first two letters of each row. This shot is usually only seen on the show proper during Bonus Round wins, so any use of this shot in a promo usually spoils that episode's Bonus Round will be won, as well as part of the puzzle, especially if the shot also shows some of the visible letters filling in on a solve. However, at least one promo used this shot despite that Bonus Round being lost.
  • On October 13, 2010, one preview that aired near the end of the show was devoted entirely to a woman picking up the Million-Dollar Wedge, complete with suspenseful music and an announcer saying that the episode "just might have a million reasons to watch". When the episode aired, she lost it to Bankrupt.
  • The promo for the week of May 27, 2013 outright stated there would be a $1,000,000 win that week, showing very brief footage of when in the game the Million-Dollar Wedge was hit (Round 2, with the Mystery Wedge being visible and the Prize wedge sitting on the yellow contestant's arrow) and the big winner celebrating. It only became more obvious (still before it aired) when said $1,000,000 winner posted the week's contestant blog — part of her outfit could clearly be seen in the promo during the "post-win" clip, which showed a group of people hugging among raining confetti.
  • The promo for the week of September 15, 2014 was even more blunt. As a black screen is displayed, Pat's voice is heard saying "Could you use a million dollars?" followed by a contestant screaming. This was also strongly hinted even earlier by a still posted online by (oddly enough) a Jeopardy! fan account, showing Pat holding a Bonus Round envelope open before a contestant hunched over in excitement. Although the contestant's head and envelope's prize were censored, it was still obvious what the still was showing, especially for eagle-eyed fans who knew that the $100,000 and $1,000,000 envelopes use a different variant of the Wheel logo than all the other envelopes, which was in plain sight in the still.
  • In recent seasons, if a Bonus Round is solved with few letters showing, the promo aired on affiliates will be dedicated entirely to this, touting something along the lines of, "An unbelievable solve you won't want to miss." Although these promos generally don't spoil the winning contestant, prize, or full puzzle, it outright tells you the Bonus Round is won.
  • In recent seasons, the episode that features the biggest winner of the season up to that point (usually following a $100,000+ win) is usually outright mentioned as such in its promo, though it does not outright spoil which contestant wins. This included the April 27, 2021 episode, although to their credit, it did not spoil whether the winner would win the $100,000 or the Margaritaville home being offered that week (although it could be deduced once her final maingame total was more than $100,000 under the current top winner of the season, plus she did not have the Million Dollar Wedge).
  • The promo for the March 5, 2021 episode heavily implied a $100,000 win, and while flashing brief individual clips of each contestant, showed one of them standing in front of the Bonus Wheel, spoiling which one would win.
  • A $100,000 win that occurred on the March 18, 2021 episode was indirectly spoiled ten days earlier in the promo for the previous week, which had a brief shot of Vanna standing next to a revealed bonus puzzle starting with the letters "FL" and throwing her arms up in a victory pose, a reaction she usually only gives on such wins. The winning puzzle was FLOWING WHITE GOWN.
  • The promo for the May 17, 2021 episode showed clips of previous $100,000+ winners and said that "something big happens again", and it showed Pat surrounded by confetti. Gee, what do you think it could be?
• Truck Driver's Gear Change: The 1983-2000 theme, "Changing Keys". Incidentally, the name became somewhat of an Artifact Title for the 1994 and '97 remixes, which had virtually no key changes.
• Two Decades Behind:
  • While the show's "Song Title", "Song Lyrics", and "Song/Artist" categories are fairly common, the songs used for their puzzles are almost-always from the 1980s or earlier, even if it's a teen or college week. This appears to be intentional; occasionally, there is a puzzle that could be considered a lyric or title of a song later than the 80s, but they will put it under a more generic category such as Phrase or Rhyme Time. According to Pat, older contestants might struggle with modern pop lyrics. Despite this, they do sometimes use the name of a currently-popular artist in a Proper Name, Show Biz, or Crossword puzzle. The show slightly improved on this after Harry Friedman left, however.
  • The "decade" categories began seeing more use in recent seasons, mostly "The 80's" or its derivatives such as "80's Song Lyrics". "The 70's" is also used fairly often, while the "The 90's" is the least common. Despite the categories' longevity (including "The 90's" actually being used in that decade at least once), there are still no categories for the 2000's or 2010's. The decade categories were mostly phased out starting in Season 40 and Celebrity Season 3, with only one exception (a 90's Show Biz puzzle during the first week).
  • The show still sometimes uses outdated slang in "Phrase" puzzles, including multiple instances of the word TOTALLY in The New '10s and "OUT OF SIGHT!" in 2018. One infamous round in 2022 had the contestants struggling for more than two minutes with the Phrase "ANOTHER FEATHER IN YOUR CAP"; one of them later stated that he hadn't heard the saying in about 30 years.
  • One College Week episode in 2014 had a Toss-Up of REVENGE OF THE NERDS under the category "The 80s" (which was likely before any of the week's contestants were born). Two contestants rang in with incorrect guesses, obviously not being familiar with the movie.
  • Averted with most seasons Celebrity Wheel of Fortune, where about half of the song puzzles are from the 21st century. This series also often uses puzzles related to modern cultural phenomena (e.g., TWERKING ON TIKTOK, I LOVE BABY YODA!) that have never been explored on the syndicated version, clearly aiming for a much younger demographic.
    • For Season 2, the trope was played straight, with only one song puzzle dating later than the 80's (WHO LET THE DOGS OUT?). One round had the puzzle AH HA HA HA STAYIN' ALIVE STAYIN' ALIVE (70's Song Lyrics), during which Tara Lipinski said, "I don't know if I'm good with 70's lyrics." When Raven-Symoné solved it incorrectly, she protested, "I was born in the 80's!"
  • May 28, 2018: On a "Best Friends" episode in which all three teams looked no older than their mid-30's, The Toss-Up WKRP in Cincinnati went unsolved, with no one being familiar with the 80s television series. It didn't help that the K was the last letter to be revealed, leading to two incorrect guesses starting with WARP. Afterwards, one contestant commented, "We're 90's kids."
  Pat: I understand why you don't know. It was a popular show in the old days. It was called "Wu-kurp in Cincinnati".
  • The show's current events category, "Headline", has become increasingly rare in recent seasons to the point of sometimes not appearing for over a year. Nowadays, when it does get used, it is always related to a recent sports victory or an astronomical event.
  • The very few puzzles Wheel has used related to gaming have only involved arcade classics such as Pac-Man and Space Invaders.
  • In a zig-zag of this trope, Classic TV was only used three times between 2007 and 2017, far less often than the TV Title category used for current or recent shows. It did see an uptick in use in the late 2010's, appearing more often than TV Title at this point.
  • Jokingly averted by Pat on the Season 29 premiere, where he quipped that to keep up with the times, "Every puzzle will include the word 'KARDASHIAN'." Ironically, more than a decade later, said name still has yet to appear in any puzzle.
  • A Song Lyrics puzzle SURF CITY HERE WE COME (from the 1963 song "Surf City" by Jan and Dean) has been used as a Toss-Up twice, in 2014 and 2020. In the 2014 episode, it was incorrectly solved as "SURF CLAY WHERE WE GO". In the 2020 episode, it was again incorrectly solved, this time as "NEW YORK CITY HERE WE COME", and it was not solved until there was only one letter left.

U

• Understatement: Pat, to million-dollar winner Michelle Loewenstein. "You may be one of our bigger winners." He didn't say anything similar to the second $1,000,000 winner (Autumn Erhard), even though...you know...she took the "biggest Wheel winner" record from Michelle.
• Undesirable Prize: Arguably every shopping-era prize that wasn't a car, all-expenses-paid vacation, or possibly fur coat could count, but everyone remembers the $154 ceramic Dalmatian. The late 80s-early 90s also had some real stinkers in the Bonus Round, such as a build-your-own log cabin kit, a silver tea serving set, a "shipboard party" (something that even Pat made fun of), or historical documents signed by famous people. Arguably, the gift tags could also fall under this, depending on whether or not someone actually wants a Lobstergram or a $1,000 Kmart shopping spree.
• Unexpected Gameplay Change:
  • The sudden switch to playing for cash in 1987, then the announcement that it would be permanent after originally intended to be a one-month stint.
  • Contestants now being given RSTLNE for free in the Bonus Round in 1988.
  • The trial of the ½ Car wedges (which would make a permanent debut as the ½ Car tags), during a Road Trip week in 2011.
  • The addition of Crossword Puzzles in 2016.
  • Contestants now being allowed to choose their Bonus Round category starting in 2017.
• The Unreveal: Since Season 30, some episodes feature a Bonus Round puzzle from an older episode for viewers to try to guess for fun. The puzzle is first shown with RSTLNE plus the contestant's three consonants and vowel, followed by a plug, then the solution is revealed. On Netflix, most plugs are edited out, and the solution reveal gets cut with them. Although Vanna's voiceover, "We'll give you the answer when we come back right after this." is still intact, the show fades out from the partial puzzle, then fades back in with the start of the next round.
• Unsportsmanlike Gloating: One instance occurred in the Speed-Up on September 19, 2007. A contestant got ahead of himself on the puzzle A FLOCK OF CARDINALS, and said FLOCK OF CARDINALS BABY. That wasn't accepted, so he said the proper solution immediately afterward.
• Useless Useful Spell: A wedge variant in Buy A Vowel. Its redundancy from the 1973 pilot suggests it was meant to simulate the "impulse buy" that may or may not backfire, putting it closer to Lose A Turn and Bankrupt than Free Spin. Strangely, the wedge wasn't actually present for Round 1 on the '74 pilots, and the thing never even came into play for the first two pilots.

V

• Vampire Vords: During Halloween weeks, Jim often does some of his announcing (especially the intro) in the stereotypical "Dracula" voice.
• Victoria's Secret Compartment: On a 2011 episode, Pat was talking to Vanna about being cold, and how you have "handwarmers or footwarmers or..." and she pulls two warmers out of the top of her dress, saying "They have to stay warm." ^note (Boobwarmers?)
• Vocal Evolution: Charlie's voice got deeper not long after he returned to the show in 1989. He also had a spell throughout most of the 1990s where he was noticeably mellower, but actually became only more enthusiastic come the 2000s (see above).

W

• Wardrobe Malfunction:
  • Vanna has confirmed that she once split a zipper mid-taping, and finished the episode in a different dress.
  • On the March 8, 2013 episode, Pat popped a button off his jacket during the Final Spin. Even though the wardrobe department was able to get him a new button during the commercial break, he wore stage manager John Lauderdale's jacket for the rest of the show as a joke.
  • Narrowly averted in an late-March/early-April 1988 episode when Vanna walked into a pool as one episode ended; getting her dress soaked. She then began to stand up before realizing her dress has become transparent.
• Waxing Lyrical: On a 2004 episode, after SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS was the answer to a "Fictional Character" puzzle, Pat quipped "What do you mean, 'fictional'? He lives in a pineapple under the sea! Absorbent and yellow and porous is he!"
• Whammy: Bankrupt and Lose A Turn. At least the latter lets you keep your cash/prizes/etc. The former wedge from this show provides the page image.
• "Where? Where?": A common quip from Pat whenever the announcer introduces him and Vanna at the top of the show is to say "Where are they?" in response.
• Who Writes This Crap?!: Pat has never been afraid to mock the puzzle writers:
  • When a contestant was tasked to solve DESE DEM AND DOSE GUYS, Pat outright called it a "crummy puzzle".
  • Pretty much every instance of Megaword in the 1994-95 season, to the point that even Vanna and Charlie joined in on occasion. When Trent Girone, a huge fan and contestant with a learning disability, brought it up in a 2014 episode (after Pat challenged him to name a retired category), he said that he "hated every minute of it".
  • February 24, 2012: After the Prize Puzzle I LOVE MY PASSPORT PHOTO was solved, Pat remarked that he's never heard anyone say that. The contestant who solved it agreed.
  • June 13, 2013: Following the Round 2 puzzle LIVE-IN NANNY GOAT, Pat sighed and discouragedly said "I know exactly who wrote that."
  • On November 25, 2020, a contestant called out the writers for using OVEN in a Crossword round that had the clue "Kitchen ____". He questioned "who calls it a kitchen oven?", leading Pat to throw a mock tantrum and jokingly call the contestant "ungrateful".
• Working Through the Cold:
  • Pat obviously had a cold for the second "Wipeout Week" during Season 6 (February 6-10, 1989), as he sounded congested throughout and the mics picked up several sniffles and coughs.
  • Pat hosted two weeks of episodes from San Francisco in November 1996 despite coming down with laryngitis at the time. By the end of one week, his voice was nearly gone; he and Vanna traded places in the Bonus Round on the Thursday episode, and he communicated through hand signals in Round 4 of the Friday episode.
• Writing Around Trademarks: Contestants are generally not allowed to mention anything trademarked in their interviews, especially if it's involved in their occupation. In some instances, this is painfully obvious.
  • March 13, 2012: A contestant named Sav is forced to indirectly promote her cooking YouTube channel as an "internet channel".
  • October 17, 2012: A contestant named Gino states that he is a "chef" at Subway, then quickly corrects himself to say "sub shop".
  • April 17, 2023: A contestant named Karen proudly talks about her professional dancing career, most of which involves "kicking with a very famous holiday production in New York City."

Y

• You Say Tomato: In one episode, Pat pointed out that Charlie says "ca-RIB-be-an" and he says "CARE-uh-be-an". He then added that he says "Wheel of Fortune" while Charlie says, quote, "Wheeeeeeeeeeel of Fortune".