Here's A Breakdown Of The Wheel Of Fortune One-Letter Solve

Last Friday, a Wheel of Fortune contestant solved a prize puzzle with only one letter on the board. The internet exploded with astonishment and conspiracy theories. Esquire's Chris Jones—who's written about phenomenal game-show performances before—broke it down on his blog.

Here's the video if you haven't seen it yet.

It's pretty amazing, but as Jones points out, the woman, a magazine editor named Caitlin Burke, is a bit of a Wheel of Fortune junkie who understands that the game is a process of elimination, one designed to make "the basic and routine seem chaotic and unpredictable." Burke saw the apostrophe and the single letter on the board and worked her way from there. It's certainly impressive, but as you learn, not unfathomable or impossible. Charles Van Doren gets to stay at the top of the list of great game show cheaters.

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