‘Wheel of Fortune’ contestant falls after bad spin luck: ‘Blow to the ego’
He was wheely not fortunate.
A “Wheel of Fortune” contestant who hit a string of bad luck Tuesday jokingly pretended to faint and fell to the floor after losing his turn several times throughout the game.
Justin Orscheln, an assistant principal at Eagle Heights Elementary School outside of Kansas City, Missouri, was dressed to the nines in a stylish burgundy tux for the episode. He started the game on a high, but that eventually all came crashing down.
“The first bankruptcy or two didn’t bother me — it’s all part of the game,” Orscheln told The Post. “However, the subsequent bankruptcies and Lose a Turns were a blow to the ego for sure.”
The “Wheel of Fortune” Instagram account posted a clip of Orscheln’s not-so-fortunate time on the show on Wednesday.
“The wheel can be mean sometimes. Too mean,” reads the caption.
On the teacher’s fourth go at the wheel, he failed to get any additional money and instead, he lost his turn.
“Justin, Justin! Go to the principal’s office,” laughed host Pat Sajak.
By Orscheln’s fifth time losing his turn, he was fed up and pretended to faint before reemerging and asking Sajak, 76, if he could just get $5,000 and call it square.
Later in the game, Sajak announced to the contestants that would do a triple tossup before adding sarcastically, “And Justin, there is no spinning.”
Orscheln’s luck continued to disappoint during the show’s final spin segment as the teacher hit Lose a Turn yet again.
The assistant principal said that he knew things were not going to go his way so he decided to have as much fun as he possibly could.
“I had to make the conscious choice to model good sportsmanship for my students and my own boys and have fun even when things weren’t happening favorably — which led to ‘the faint,’” Orscheln told The Post.
“At that point, [with] the final spin having both a bankruptcy and Lose a Turn, I figured to have as much fun as possible and not let them see me sweat.”
At one point, Orscheln revealed that he was worried that Sajak was actually annoyed with him.
“After the bankruptcy, I wasn’t sure if Pat was annoyed [with my] pulling focus to me, but my intention was to just make light of an irritating situation,” said Orscheln. “It was during the following Lose a Turn after that when he said, ‘Get ready to fall again, Justin,’ that I knew he was in on it too.”
Finally, Orscheln struck gold — or at least $650.
According to the father of two, appearing on the game show was a “once-in-a-lifetime experience,” and he hopes that people take his positive attitude into account.
“I’m hopeful I set a good example for having fun even when things don’t go exactly as planned,” Orscheln said. “It’s a game show, after all; it’s meant to be fun!”
Orscheln also expressed a desire to return to the show one day as either a contestant or host once Sajak inevitably retires.
In the end, Orscheln managed to walk away with $2,000 and the love of at-home viewers.
“What a good sport through all that,” one person commented on the Instagram post highlighting his bad spins.
“He went home with $2,000 — that’s more than I made today. And he had a lot of fun! this could be the beginning of big things for Justin,” said another fan. “He’s definitely a fan favorite.”
“Poor thing! Invite him again he’s such a good sport,” laughed a third person.
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