I hadn’t watched Wheel of Fortune in years, but I caught a bit of an episode last night. Apparently the special prize panels have gone way up in value relative to the other panels, which still range from a few hundred to a few thousand dollars.* One panel showed a million dollars; a contestant won it. Or would have won it had he not then spun a “lose a turn” and lost his chance to solve the puzzle.
At that point, inspired by the financial innovations of the recent past, I thought: wouldn’t all three contestants ultimately win more if they agreed to fail to solve the puzzle until it came back to the guy with the million dollar panel, who would win and give a share of the prize to the other two? I’m sure that would be against the rules; that’s why I say I was inspired by recent financial history.
In the end, the potential million dollar guy never got another chance at that puzzle, and the panel, having been lifted from the wheel, was put out of reach for the rest of the episode.
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*Hey remember when the contestants used to select various items from a rotating display – usually showing home furnishings and the like – until they used up their prize money? That was a long time ago.