What to Know
In November 2010, a young woman named Caitlin Burke went viral after appearing on the hit game show Wheel of Fortune. Burke pulled off something that was truly shocking — she managed to solve the puzzle with practically no clues. Her solve was so good that even her fellow contestants and the show’s host were left speechless.
Despite seeming like pure luck, there was actually a method Burke followed to win. The clip has recently resurfaced, and has drawn attention back to Burke’s amazing skills. It’s been nearly 16 years since it happened, and it isn’t any less impressive.
The win is so good, it may seem fake.
The official Wheel of Fortune Instagram page recently shared the clip, captioning the post “A solve so good people will claim this is AI.”
In the clip, Burke asks “Could I try to solve?” The only clues on the board at the time are an apostrophe and the letter “L.” Then-host Pat Sajak doesn’t even respond for a second, clearly shocked by what he’s just been asked. But he finally says “Okay.”
She then says, “I’ve got a good feeling about this.” Sajak, genuinely surprised, says “That’s right,” before he approaches her.
“What’d I win? What’d I win?” she asks, and Sajak responds “Well wait a minute, let me get over this first.” When he asks her how she managed to figure it out, she responds, “I had a good feeling about it.”
Burke, who now works as a stylist and fashion consultant according to her Instagram, commented on the post, writing “Hi! This is me 🙋🏻♀️🥰.” She followed it by adding “And ironic since I’m actually extremely anti-AI haha.”
People had a lot to say about Burke’s big moment.
“Pat probably thought somebody was pulling a prank on him. 🤣 The other two players looked thrilled. 🤣,” one person wrote.
“Extremely impressive!! As a former contestant, I would’ve really been nervous if I was on the same episode as her 😅,” one person wrote.
Musician Questlove even commented, writing “NO WAY.” The WoF page replied, asking “She did good, huh? 😌”
“Her vibes are immaculate 🙂↕️”
“I’ve got a good feeling about this. I remember that puzzle. One of the most impressive solves by far.”
“I remember watching this live and was amazed!”
“She’s quick in many ways!!! She solved it and thought of a good joke on the spot too.”
She didn’t just guess off the top of her head.
After her shocking feat, Burke spoke with Esquire about how she managed to pull off such a solve.
“There are a million things I’m not good at,” she said. “But Wheel of Fortune, I can do.”
Burke had been watching the game show since she was a little girl living in New Jersey. And when you’ve been watching the show every day for most of your life, you figure things out. She figured out that the game is essentially a process of elimination — this allowed her to know that each puzzle is a series of smaller puzzles.
The then 26-year-old would break each puzzle into “chunks” that makes it easier to solve. She told the outlet about her detailed process for solving the clue, and it’s truly impressive.
Obviously her process worked, and she pulled off what Pat Sajak called “the most amazing solve we’ve ever had” when talking to the Chicago Sun-Times in 2010.
Altogether, Burke won $53,618, and a trip to Grenada.
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