‘Wheel Of Fortune’ Player’s Christmas-Themed Puzzle Fail Is A Gift To The Internet

Maybe this game was just a lost Claus.

On Tuesday’s Christmas-themed episode of “Wheel of Fortune,” contestant Phil McManus of Palmer, Massachusetts, tried to solve a puzzle with an answer that was so bad, it ended up being funny.

The category for the three-word puzzle was “Santa Letter.” Here’s what it looked like, before McManus took a stab at solving it:

CHOCOLATES / CHESTNUTS / & / CHI_NE_S

“Chocolate, chestnuts & chickens,” McManus hilariously guessed.

Not quite.

Matt Komma from Riverton, Utah, answered the puzzle correctly ― “Chocolates, chestnuts & chimneys” ― and snagged $4,200.

“Wheel of Fortune” fans on social media were equally perplexed and amused by McManus’ poultry-inclusive guess.

“That was my shopping list last weekend,” one fan joked.

“When I think of chocolates and chestnuts, the next word I think of is chickens,” someone else quipped.

“Treat yourself a round of sausage! And chickens!” a third person wrote, going deep into game-show lore with a reference to another recent and funny missolve.

Last month, a “Wheel of Fortune” contestant went viral after he gave an equally off-mark (but equally mouth-watering) answer to a puzzle in the “Phrase” category, which looked like this:

_ _ _ E / _OURSE_F / A / ROUN_ / OF / A_ _ _ AUSE

The contestant ventured this incorrect gem: “Treat yourself a round of sausage.”

The actual answer was “Give yourself a round of applause.” And, really, that’s exactly what everyone involved here ― creative contestants included ― should do.