Wheel of Fortune Contestants’ Bad Luck “Curse” Shocked Even Ryan Seacrest

Three Wheel of Fortune contestants hit a string of bad luck on the show’s Sept. 18 episode, which stunned new host Ryan Seacrest and longtime Wheel cohost Vanna White.

Time to officially rename it the Wheel of Misfortune.

That’s what three contestants learned the hard way on the Sept. 18 episode of Wheel of Fortune. The trio of Melissa Brickey, Brent Lau and Tanijah Johnson experienced such a string of bad luck that even new host Ryan Seacrest and the show’s longtime star Vanna White were astonished.

On the episode, the three contestants were spinning during the Crossword Round, when each of them landed on “bankrupt” in three consecutive spins.

“Should we have a conversation with this wheel?” Ryan joked, before asking the wheel, “What are you doing to us?”

And it only got worse when Brent’s next spin landed on “lose a turn,” prompting Ryan to ask the group, “Who did something bad before they got here?”

Tanijah’s next spin did allow her to guess a letter, but she was immediately hit with another “bankrupt,” as was Melissa.

All of which prompted Ryan—who recently took over for former host Pat Sajak—to quip, “So, I’m new here. I’ve never seen anything like this before.”

The 49-year-old then urged Brent to spin again and “break this curse,” however Brent landed on “lose a turn” yet again.

The American Idol host couldn’t hold back how stunned he was, turning his cohost and pleading, “Vanna? What is going on?”

The group then landed on “bankrupt” once again, prompting both Ryan and Tanijah to rest their heads on the wheel in exasperation.

Luckily, things finally turned around for the three with Melissa’s next spin, which landed on $600 and eventually enabled them to solve the “Facial Features” puzzle: Eyelashes, pupils, cheeks, lips. Melissa ultimately went on to win the episode, taking a grand total of $60,050.

And despite having just started his Wheel of Fortune run, this is not the first time Ryan has found himself in uncharted Wheel territory.

During the Sept. 16 episode, contestant Vivian Tran landed on the “one million” wheel wedge and successfully landed on the million-dollar envelope during the bonus round.

“My heart is racing,” Ryan said. “This is a first for me. You’re playing for $1 million.”

Phillip Faraone/Getty Images for CBS Media Ventures / Sony Pictures Television

Unfortunately, Vivian was unable to solve the puzzle and missed out on the million—but still went home with $27,300 and a trip to Europe.

Although Ryan is still new at hosting the iconic game show, he’s already left quite an impression on Vanna.

“He’s doing an incredible job,” she recently told E! News. “It’s not easy. He makes it look easy.”

She knew he would be fantastic from the get-go, adding, “He’s so talented, he’s so professional, he’s so good at what he does. I’m so thankful.”

As Ryan joked to E!, “If Wheel of Fortune is offered to you, you just don’t say no. You’ll have bad karma for the rest of your TV life.”