‘Wheel of Fortune’ Fans Duped by Fake Racist Clip

A viral video appearing to show a Wheel of Fortune contestant guessing the N-word on a puzzle is fooling fans of the show, as it turns out the clip is fake. The video drew widespread condemnation after TikTok user @mostlyh2o shared the clip in December 2020. The seconds-long video shows the alleged contestant, named Darren, solving a puzzle reading “Clam _igger,” with one letter missing. Although the answer appeared to be “Clam Digger,” the contestant guessed the letter “N” instead of “D.”

The video quickly went viral, being viewed more than 2.4 million times within just six days. Decider reported it also garnered more than 500,000 likes and thousands of comments from appalled viewers, with one person writing, “When I tell you my hand flew to my mouth.” The clip gained so much popularity that Snopes, a fact-checking website, stepped in to set the record straight on what seemed to be an extremely racist real clip from the beloved game show. According to the website, the clip is anything but real.

Snopes reports that not only is the video a fraud, but different versions of it have circulated online for years. The same video was uploaded to YouTube on May 4, 2011, and at least three other versions currently exist and have been available on YouTube for years. Those videos have amassed 1.1 million, 847,000, 153,000, and 63,000 views. The outlet also noted that the “Clam Digger” clip did not actually play out on Wheel of Fortune, but rather appears to be edited. Snopes reports, “the ‘Clam Digger’ puzzle with a man guessing ‘N’ instead of ‘D’ was not a genuine moment from the game show but rather apparently used a low-quality, green-screen effect to present Darren, the fake contestant.”

The outlet said it could find no news stories reporting on the alleged scene, which likely would have drawn up plenty of backlash and news stories had it actually occurred. At least one YouTube commenter also claimed the man in the “Clam Digger” video had been interviewed in the past and admitted the clip was fake, though Snopes was unable to find evidence of the interview.

As many TikTok commenters noted, and as Snopes listed in its debunking of the clip, the fake Wheel of Fortune clip is similar to a moment featured in a 2007 episode of South Park, in which Randy Marsh guesses the wrong word while competing on game show. The episode was titled “With Apologies to Jesse Jackson” and first aired on March 7, 2007, more than four years before the oldest upload date for the Wheel of Fortune fake clip. This means that it is possible someone used editing software to create the racist Wheel of Fortune video as an homage to the Comedy Central series.