When Ryan Seacrest announced that he would be taking Pat Sajak's place on Wheel of Fortune, some fans were skeptical. After all, Pat was on the show for more than 40 years, so it makes sense that it would take fans some time to get used to the new host. Likewise, Ryan also had a lot to learn as he stepped into his new role. While he seems to have gotten the hang of it for the most part, some fans recently accused Ryan of making a mistake on the show. After watching the Friday, October 4, 2024, episode of Wheel of Fortune, some fans honed in on Ryan's delayed reaction to a contestant's answer.
Some people gave Ryan Seacrest the benefit of the doubt — it's possible that Ryan's delayed reaction was intentional. Others were less forgiving. On the episode, contestant Cody Hunger chose the "Phrase" category in the bonus round with a chance to win $94,900.
Ryan told Cody that he could choose three consonants and one vowel to help him solve the puzzle. Presumably because of his name, Cody selected "C, D, Y, O."
Vanna revealed "O_T O_ T_E__Y" and Ryan told Cody that he had 10 seconds to guess the right phrase. Cody quickly guessed "Out of The Way," which was correct — but fans aren't quite certain that Ryan realized that.
After Cody guessed the phrase correctly, Vanna smiled and awkwardly began clapping as Ryan did not seem to react at all.
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After a bit of silence, Ryan said, "Cody, that's it — you got it." But because of his delayed reaction, some people felt that Ryan left the winner hanging. After the episode aired, fans took to Reddit to discuss whether or not Ryan's delayed reaction was a mistake.
"What a nightmare for the guy as he had to wait for Ryan to wake up and tell him he got the puzzle," the original poster wrote on Reddit. "Vanna was clapping as soon as he said it!"
One person called the pause "quite awkward," and even some of Ryan's fans called him out for his delayed reaction.
"I love Ryan but that's his first blooper," one person wrote.
Others thought that Ryan's pause was intentional.
"Ryan obviously did that for dramatic effect," one person said. "He paused and said his name first. And then said he got it. Not a blooper or mistake from what I saw."
Another Redditor pointed out that Vanna's quick reaction made it seem less intentional.
"I think because Vanna reacted so quickly it caught my attention so there seemed to be a delay to hearing it was right," they said.
Maybe it was a mistake, or maybe it was done for dramatic effect — either way, some fans didn't love it.
"The pause, I believe, is due to the producers wanting to build up Drama…it’s happened a few times now with Ryan," one person commented. "Not a fan of the way the show’s being produced since he’s taken over the lead."
