Wheel of Fortune went a little too far last Wednesday night when it featured a horrifying puzzle that had several horror fans freaking out.
When the game show contestants started working on the said puzzle under the Movie Quote category, viewers who had guessed the answer early took to Twitter fearing the consequences of solving the puzzle.
The answer to the puzzle was “CANDYMAN CANDYMAN CANDYMAN CANDYMAN,” a reference to the horror franchise Candyman created by Clive Barker. Launched in 1992, the property has already released four films. The most recent one was released in September and was co-written by Oscar winner Jordan Peele.
In the movies, the titular deadly spirit is summoned when a person says the name Candyman five times into a mirror. This explains why a lot of viewers at home expressed their thoughts and fears on Twitter the moment they figured out the puzzle.
They have a death wish. @WheelofFortune #Candyman 😳 pic.twitter.com/1OhO9PuCuf
— Throw Up & Theology (@revlaurelj) October 27, 2021
Wheel of Fortune is playing a dangerous game tonight pic.twitter.com/tQ69XJffoz
— Mr. November (@HeyImTomHealy) October 27, 2021
Wheel of Fortune just tricked me into saying “Candyman” four times, so there’s that. pic.twitter.com/thHDnf1hwC
— Katrina (@pKatrinaAnne) October 27, 2021
Wheel of Fortune just had "Candyman Candyman Candyman" as their phrase and that is pure evil.#Candyman
— Judah / Possibly Feral (@judah_noah) October 27, 2021
Like they had him say Candyman x4. Wheel of fortune yall wild!!!
— iamRell (@Iam_Rellz) October 27, 2021
Not them having the candyman summon as a puzzle on wheel of fortune 😱😱😱
— Mrs. S (officially now lol)👑 (@Oh_MyDearMaria) October 27, 2021
While the puzzle was smart to only have listed the name Candyman four times, program host Pat Sajak decided to tempt fate. “That, by the way, for those of you that don’t know is from a film called Candyman,” Sajak said of the puzzle. “And I said it a fifth time which means he appears. Isn’t that the way it works? Maybe he’s under the wheel.”
Though summoning Candyman in the movies always leads to horrifying consequences, the contestant who solved the Candyman puzzle, Jordan, ended up winning the entire game, bringing home a total of $40,610 cash prize.
Directed by Bernard Rose, the original Candyman film follows a Chicago graduate student (Virginia Madsen) completing a thesis on urban legends and folklore. Her research leads her to the legend of the Candyman, the ghost of an artist and the son of a slave who was murdered in the late 19th century for his relationship with the daughter of a wealthy white man.
Played by Tony Todd, Candyman wears a large fur trench coat that conceals his grotesque mutilations caused by the torture he suffered shortly before his death. Underneath his outer garment is his skinless ribcage and hollowed-out abdomen, which forms a hive infested with live honey bees. Candyman also has a bloody hook in place of his right hand, which he uses to mutilate his victims.