After taking over Wheel of Fortune hosting duties in September following Pat Sajak's retirement, Ryan Seacrest has mostly been coasting on a wave of positive vibes and reactions. (This season's new set design took a bigger hit than he did.) Of course, not all that glitters is forever gold, and some fans have pinpointed a specific nitpick about Seacrest's approach that I agree should be curbed.
When it comes to fan criticisms, Seacrest has been dinged for making a mistake or two, and his timing is a tad delayed when it comes to responding to contestants' letter guesses. But what's now confusing certain viewers is the way the American Idol host reveals the $40,000 Bonus Round prize inside the envelope. As one fan put it on Reddit:
I like Seacrest, but gotta admit, I'm not a fan of the dramatic 40K reveals lol
For those unaware, Ryan Seacrest is the kind of host who tends to portray everything in as positive a light as can be. And so it's somewhat understandable that part of his schtick is playing up the hype surrounding the Bonus Round envelope and the alluring prizes that could be inside. And by all means, $40,000 is an excitingly large payday for a puzzle-solver.
But as it's pointed out in comments there and among the game show's YouTube comments, the $40,000 prize is actually the least lucrative prize on the mini-wheel. As such, Seacrest has been called out for being too performative when building anticipation before flipping the envelope around to show the amount.
Check out the latest example of the $40,000 shuffle, as I'll call it for the moment, which is the episode that sparked the comment above.
Since Seacrest has been fairly polite about constestants' awful guesses during his time on the show so far, I won't spend too much time on this here, but it's a little weird, right? It's akin to a parent trying to convince a skeptical child that the snack they've been given instead of ice cream is just as good.
The Reddit comments tackle the key elements that make Seacrest's delivery so odd in those moments, from the lead-up implying a far bigger prize to the fact that he doesn't seem to ever reveal the $40k total himself.
- Agreed... The Mrs. and I commented on that last night. He presents it like it's something more than the minimum prize amount! One of these days, the contestant is going to react disappointedly. - @intheslipstream1
- He also contorts his body awkwardly and bounces aroind to just flip the card open. Then says 'it was this much' as if he can't say the amount. Kind of weird. - @jrclarke413
- I don't get the "It was this much." There has to be a reason that the producers don't want him to say it, but I can't imagine why (except a nefarious and illegal editing of what the amount was, which makes no sense). - @texan-yankee
I think that's also the part that baffles me the most. "It was this much" makes it sound like there's nothing printed on the envelope card, and the prize total was added in post-production. "This is what you won, the amount of money you see before you, and that which I hold in my hand."
It stands to reason that Ryan Seacrest will completely lose his shit if he ever gets to give away $1 million on Wheel, which hasn't happened in a non-Celebrity WoF game since 2014. But it's still early in his run yet.
