video: something small

The other night while waiting for Jeopardy! to come on and without a less than 15 minute show on the DVR, we ended up catching the end of Wheel of Fortune which is now subtitled America’s Game for some reason.* When I was a kid, I was a total Wheel Watcher but they’ve added so much glitz, new categories and heck the bonus round even GIVES the most common letters nowadays–practically ensuring that it will be even more difficult for many people. And I miss the days when people had to do the “head in a bubble” shopping spree with their winnings, and “put the rest on a gift certificate.”

Since there was no escaping it, we watched the last few minutes and were treated to this little gem. The contestant had failed to solve the puzzle and was hoping that he hadn’t lost too large a prize:

Mmmm, that’s good double entendre! Some things, you just can’t make up…

Really, it’s the look on Pat Sajak’s face that does it for me. Even a weathered game show host that’s seen it all has to take a moment after that one. All the better since these are likely filmed multiple episodes at a time, it wasn’t live and they chose to let it go out on the air anyway.

As I’m not a regular watcher, it may get even more ribald during the main gameplay, who knows? But even though that guy didn’t get another $100k, he gets to go home and say that he looked downwards and asked Pat Sajak to show him something small… on national television. That’s a story that’s going to be hard to one-up for a while!