A contestant kicked off a recent episode of Wheel of Fortune with a bang, so to speak, with a shocking yet humorous response.
Tavaris Williams rose to instant fame when he went head-to-head with his competitors for a $1,000 toss-up round.
The Port St. Lucie, Florida resident had his buzzer in hand, ready to solve the puzzle in the “Phrase” category as veteran tile-turner Vanna White, 67, began revealing letters on the board.
When the puzzle revealed, “_ _ _ _ / I _ / T _ E / B _ _ T!” Tavaris was certain he had the correct solution and tapped his buzzer.
When host Pat Sajak, 77, called on Tavaris to answer, his response sent the studio audience and his challengers into a tizzy and stunned the longtime Wheel of Fortune host.
“Right in the butt?” Tavaris responded, somewhat questioning his response.
Tavaris Williams causes a ruckus on live TV with his puzzle solution
Right away, one of Tavaris’ opponents shrieked, “What?!” while the audience oohed and ahhed, trying to discern whether Tavaris was joking or serious.
Pat Sajak paused a few seconds before delivering a no-nonsense “No.”
The audience continued to express their shock, some laughing, some gasping, before Tavaris’ fellow contestant, Blake buzzed in with the correct answer: “This is the best!”
“Much better answer,” Tavaris told Blake under his breath as he applauded her winning response.
When Pat circled back to Tavaris for the opening introductions, he told him, “Tavaris, you’ve already made an impression on us.”
“I apologize, Pat,” Tavaris responded. “I was a little excited.”
Pat teased, “We’ll figure out a way to handle that tastefully. I have no idea what that’ll be, but…”
Wheel of Fortune watchers react to Tavaris’ surprising response
At-home Wheel watchers rewatched Tavaris’ viral clip on X (formerly Twitter), where they had plenty to say about the NSFW answer.
“I love how he puts his clicker down before she even answers correctly,” wrote @ChrisCompson. “He’s knows he cannot try again. Not this puzzle.”
Another X user joked, “Meek Mills what you doing on wheel of Fortune?”
Joking that Tavaris’ answer would be more expected on the game show Family Feud, @MattLovesVinyl teased, “Dude forgot he was on Wheel of Fortune and thought he was on Steve Harvey’s Family Feud.”
“It’s the pause and then ‘No’ response from Pat Sajak for me,” wrote another fan.
Carlos Perez pointed out that the first word in Tavaris’ response didn’t even fit the puzzle (being a five-letter word).
With just a few weeks left appearing as the host of Wheel of Fortune before he officially retires, at least Pat Sajak has some humorous memories to take with him as he reflects on his 43-year-long career.