Wheel of Fortune faces ‘rigging’ allegations after ‘mathematically impossible’ prize pattern raises eyebrows

Wheel of Fortune fans have accused the iconic game show of manipulating the prizes in its coveted bonus round. 

Last week, all five winners landed on the same car prize wedge, which, by Friday, appeared more than just coincidental.

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The statistical anomaly shifted into high gear by Friday, December 12’s episode.

Lavonda from University Park, Illinois, took center stage in the bonus puzzle round, as does each night’s contestant with the highest score.

As fate would have it, she successfully unraveled the puzzle, cleverly solving it as “Make A Wise Choice.”

Longtime host Pat Sajak, 77, opened the prize card, unveiling a shiny new $44,000 BMW.

However, it wasn’t Lavonda’s emotional Wheel of Fortune win that set off alarm bells.

Rather, it was the peculiar repetition of the BMW prize wedge in the preceding days.

From Monday to Thursday, the BMW (first introduced Monday) was landed on, coincidentally aligning with a week-long travel-themed special.

Since the previous contestants failed to crack the puzzle, the BMW remained on the set until Lavonda’s triumphant win on Friday.

As Pat jubilantly remarked, “This is Friday, for four nights we have tried to give this car away and we did it!”

As the week began, fans joked how no one could win the BMW.

But what initially seemed like an amusing coincidence took a turn toward “conspiracy” by the end of the week.

‘SCAM?’

Social media users couldn’t ignore the near-impossibility of the prize wheel landing on the same wedge five nights consecutively without intentional manipulation.

One fan took to X (formerly Twitter) writing: “OK, is Wheel of Fortune scamming us? How are they spinning the BMW 5 nights in a row?”

Another fan quipped, “I firmly believe that every prize on the wheel in the bonus round is a BMW.”

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‘ASTRONOMICALLY BAD ODDS’

Another vigilant observer delved into the mathematical improbability, pointing out that the odds on the final wheel which contains 24 prizes were “astronomically bad.”

They wrote: “There is a conspiracy going on right now at Wheel of Fortune.

“Five nights in a row, the prize landed on for the final puzzle has been a car, specifically a BMW. 

“The final wheel has 24 prizes. If we assume one card contains the car, the odds of hitting that spot 5 times in a row is 1/7.96 million. Those odds are astronomically bad.

“Wheel of Fortune must, for some reason, have to give away the car by a certain date. I don’t know the reason, but it’s too unlikely to be a coincidence.

“So lets assume they’re putting more BMW cards on the wheel.  Let’s say they make half the cards say BMW.  At 50% of the wheel, the odds are still only 1/32 to hit 5 in a row. 

“You need to have 21 out of 24 [prize] cards be the car before you even make 50/50 odds. SOMETHING IS UP!”

While the final prize wheel typically features more $40,000 wedges than $100,000 ones, others questioned whether the game show made undisclosed changes to ensure the BMW was won within the week.

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