There are two reasons to get excited about game shows: (1) For the contestants. And Trent Girone, 21, is the most infectiously happy conestant we've ever seen on Wheel of Fortune. He might be the happiest contestant we've ever seen on any game show.
Trent has both Tourettes and Aspergers Syndrome, and he has undergone nine brain surgeries and one open-heart surgery. He's also a Wheel of Fortune super fan, who has been watching the show since he was two years old.
Last night, his dream of appearing on the show came true. To prepare, he says he watched every episode of Wheel he could find ("including Saturday morning reruns") and practiced on any platform he could find.
And Trent dominated the puzzles. You might even say he was a smashing success (which just so happened to be the first puzzle of the night, which he solved). But more importantly, his attitude was amazing. And even as he shouted out his letters, he always remained very, very polite.
"My best advice to future contestants is to relax and have a good time," Trent wrote in a blog post on Wheel of Fortune's website. "It is a lot of fun, whether you win big or not. That is my number one guarantee."
(For the record, Trent ended up losing, spinning a second "Bankrupt" later in the game.)
"I want to thank all of the contestant staff for taking the time to help me, and would like to thank Pat Sajak for his assistance, as well," Trent continues. "I have some physical challenges that they were aware of and they made sure I was safe and comfortable."
The second reason to watch game shows is for the fails. And no fails are more face-palm worthy than Wheel of Fortune fails. Like Rachel Brill, who answers "What Are You Doing?" with a puzzle revealing "BOO_ING M_ SHORE EXCURSION" with, "Boozing my shore excursion!"