A “Wheel of Fortune” contestant stunned viewers when he solved a nearly impossible puzzle — guessing the obscure phrase “new baby buggy” with just two letters on the board.
In the final round on Wednesday, Emil Czar De Leon II, 25, of Daly City, Calif., had to figure out the 12-letter term using only “N,” “E” and the category “thing” to earn a $45,000 prize.
On the first try, he blurted out the old-time term for stroller, prompting hostess Vanna White to toss up her arms in disbelief.
The audience went wild and host Pat Saja jokingly patted down De Leon for a wire. “[It’s] the most amazing solve in my 30+ years on the show. No kidding,” he tweeted later.
De Leon, who is studying pediatrics, said he had babies on the brain.
“It helped that I’m a nursing student. I’m in pediatrics, so I could visualize the things that babies use,” De Leon told The Post.
Leon had picked the letters: “H, M, D and O.”
The show automatically adds the letters R, S, T, L, N and E.
“I was stumped at first. I was pretty much in a pickle. But it was obvious the first word was ’new.’ The used-letter board helped a lot,” he said.
“‘New baby’ just worked from the get-go. ‘Buggy’ was kind of a shot in the dark,” he said.
But math-minded critics on Thursday claimed his guess wasn’t actually all that incredible, noting that only several dozen terms actually fit.
Most of the remaining possibilities — like “New wavy byway,” and “new icky kayak” — make no sense, the critics said.
De Leon isn’t letting it get him down.
“I’m very overwhelmed now. I can’t turn on the Internet without seeing my face!” he said.
Additional reporting by Michael Starr
Additional reporting by Michael Starr