Oh, what a whirl.
A contestant on a recent episode of Wheel of Fortune became dubbed the most unlucky to ever participate in the popular word puzzle TV game show.
Introducing Justin Orscheln.
He is an assistant school principal at Eagle Heights Elementary School outside of Kansas City, Missouri, who revealed he and his "patient" husband Ben had recently adopted two boys.
He also admitted to having a collection of $2,000 worth of candles he affectionately calls his "girls."
While his infectious charisma won over the studio audience, he failed miserably at the wheel when he repeatedly spun what turned out to be a wheel of misfortune.
Whenever Orscheln spun during Tuesday's game, the needle landed on either "bankrupt" or "lose a turn" every single time.
On his first attempt, he landed on the bankrupt slice of the wheel pie–which is fairly common.
But he brushed it off, saying:
"It's fine."
In the next word puzzle, he was more ambitious.
"Come on wheel," said Orscheln while clapping in his dapper burgundy tux.
But the spinning disk on a mean streak was not going to cooperate in the contestant's favor.
Luck was not on Jutin's side as the flicking needle slowed to a stop in the bankrupt zone a second and third time.
Orscheln's enthusiasm waned with every turn, and even host Pat Sajak lost hope and humorously remarked:
"Justin! Justin! Justin! Go to the principal's office."
You can watch Orscheln's game play literally taking a turn for the worse in the clip below.
When the fifth puzzle spin landed him in familiar territory, he dramatically collapsed behind the giant turntable.
An empathetic Sajak assured him that the next round involved:
“No spinning in the triple toss-ups."
But during the Final Spin, things didn't turn out any better.
He got another chance to twirl since a money wedge was needed to determine the value of each letter.
“Just make it $5000, Pat, we’ve got this. This is dark-sided," remarked Orscheln, maintaining a sense of humor.
When the needle clicked to a dead stop on "Lose a Turn," he joked to Sajak:
“You're doing this on purpose at this point.”
But because a dollar value was still required, he spun the wheel again and it finally stopped at $650.
And just like that, the recurring nightmare was over–but it would be one he wouldn't soon forget.
People felt bad for Orscheln.
The game show's Twitter account even weighed in, saying:
“Don’t worry, we spoke to the wheel after the show and asked it to apologize to Justin for its behavior today
By the end of the game, Orscheln managed to walk away with $2,000 and the hearts of viewers.
Recalling his whirlwind of a time on his Wheel of Fortune debut, Orscheln told the New York Post:
“The first bankruptcy or two didn’t bother me — it’s all part of the game."
"However, the subsequent bankruptcies and Lose a Turns were a blow to the ego for sure.”
When he knew the odds were not in his favor, he said he chose to make light of the situation and set a positive example in a stressful moment.
“I had to make the conscious choice to model good sportsmanship for my students and my own boys and have fun even when things weren’t happening favorably—which led to ‘the faint."
“At that point, [with] the final spin having both a bankruptcy and Lose a Turn, I figured to have as much fun as possible and not let them see me sweat.”
He was even worried at one point that Sajak was not amused by his antics.
The host quipped "We love your acting" before asking him to spin the wheel again.
Orscheln continued:
“After the bankruptcy, I wasn’t sure if Pat was annoyed [with my] pulling focus to me, but my intention was to just make light of an irritating situation."
"It was during the following Lose a Turn after that when he said, ‘Get ready to fall again, Justin,’ that I knew he was in on it too.”
He hopes to one day return to play the game or even fill in for Sajak when he eventually retires from hosting duties.
@skylergisondo/Instagram
@Pretefunkera/X
@bonnieblue2025/X
@Andie00471/X
