The “Wheel of Fortune” contestant who went viral for uttering a vulgar phrase to solve the puzzle is speaking out about the aftermath.
Tavaris Williams appeared on the May 23 episode of the popular game show and made the guess “Right in the butt” even though it would not have fit in the blank spaces available. His surprising answer inspired the room to go silent, then fellow contestant Tyra said, “What?” while host Pat Sajak said, “No.”
Williams spoke with Fox News Digital about how friends and family have reacted to the gaffe, including the reaction his wife had to the sexually charged guess.
“I tried to just beat my contestants by buzzing in first and letting my brain catch up,” Williams told the outlet.
“And when my brain was ready to speak, I saw the R, I saw the B, I saw the T. I went for ‘Right in the butt’… And once [Sajak] said ‘No,’ oh, it was the worst feeling,” he went on.
“None of those common sense [thoughts like], ‘Well, there wasn’t enough letters for the word “right”’ [or] ‘This is a family show.’ None of that is going through your head when you have 50 monitors above you, the lights are extra bright, there are 100 stagehands, there’s producers, there’s sound guys,” Williams added.
“And I was standing next to Pat, so I had to say something. I wasn’t going to get buzzed without saying something. And the rest is history,” he said.
The contestant said longtime host Sajak was understanding after he made the bad guess.
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“So right then and there he tried to make me feel better and move on, but they immediately cut to break. And in the break, Pat was very gracious and he was very supportive and said, ‘Oh, you made a name for yourself. We’re going to see how we can edit that tastefully. I don’t know how, but we’ll figure it out.’ He was very accommodating, and he made me feel great throughout the process after that. He’s truly amazing,” he said.
“They are consummate professionals,” Williams added of the crew. “I may have exchanged a couple of glances, and I got a ‘He’s going to make us work today’ look. But they were great. They were gracious. They’ve seen it all before. They may not have been expecting that. But, you know, they allowed me to continue with the show and, hopefully, everybody got a kick out of it.”
Williams explained how contestants aren’t allowed to discuss show results until the episode airs despite it being taped months in advance. He said friends and family reacted well when they finally saw the show.
“I have a wonderful family. I have tremendous friends, coworkers. Everyone has been great. Everybody is joining in the fun with me. You have to be able to laugh and smile at yourself from time to time. No one has been negative or critical, and they know where my heart is.”
“I have never in my life said those words in sequential order before the show. I picked a great time to start,” he told Fox News while laughing.
“We had a watch party and the room erupted in laughter. They couldn’t believe it, and just the eye contact alone with everybody made them laugh again,” he recalled of watching with everyone.
“They were all fine. It’s more so, the younger kids are like, ‘What did you say? Why did you say that?’” he said. “The older kids are like, ‘I can’t believe you said that.’ And the adults are like, ‘Tavaris, how?’”
Williams said his wife of 19 years, Anesha, also reacted to her husband’s answer. “My wife’s like, ‘I’m married to a meme now.’” he said. “My oldest son, he did say that it might be a tough day at school tomorrow. I was like, ‘I’m so sorry.’ But everybody has been great. We’re just enjoying the ride.”
