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Julian Batts

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TV Game Show Contestant

The Resume

    19-year old University of Indiana freshman
    Hutton Honors student and Harvard Presidential Scholar
    Appeared as a contestant on a 'College Week' episode of Wheel of Fortune
    Correctly guessed the letters to the puzzle, 'The Mythological Hero Achilles,' but incorrectly pronounced the word 'Achilles' costing him a $1 Million prize and a trip to Jamaica (aired Apr. 11, 2014)
    Derided as the 'Worst Wheel Of Fortune Contestant Ever' in several media outlets

Why he might be annoying:

    His poor pronunciation ('Ay-chill-is') cost him $1 million.
    He mispronounced a name deemed common to many (hasn't he seen Brad Pitt in Troy!?)
    He made several other cringe-inducing mistakes over the course of his stint on the show.
    This included incorrectly solving a 'Person' category puzzle by answering 'World's Fastest Car' instead of 'Man.'
    He also attempted to solve a puzzle reading 'on the spot decision' with the answer 'on the spot dicespin.'
    His poor performance on the show drew attention to his many academic titles accumulated over the years, and whether they really meant anything (he was a Hudson & Holland Scholar).

Why he might not be annoying:

    He attributed his 'Achilles' flub and subsequent mistakes to nerves/stage-fright.
    The decision not to award him the $1 million provoked widespread outrage.
    The outrage was the accumulation of years' worth of similar judgment calls over 'pronunciation.'
    Charlamagne Tha God flubbed the pronunciation of 'Achilles' while awarding him 'Donkey of the Day' for the gaffe.
    News sites covering him, like Glenn Beck's The Blaze, were lit up with racist comments about 'uneducated blacks,' welfare, and affirmative action.
    The negative attention surrounding his viral mistake obscured the fact that he - actually - won the game.
    He reportedly saved his $11,700 in winnings for a trip to the Dominican Republic to study Spanish (not quite $1 million, but still not bad either).
    He handled the flak he got for the mistake with aplomb, saying: 'social media and the media, they're going to say what they're going to say... [but] it was a dream and it was one of the greatest experiences I've accomplished so far.'

Credit: BoyWiththeGreenHair


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    In 2023, Out of 3 Votes: 33.33% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 4 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 11 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 1 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2019, Out of 11 Votes: 63.64% Annoying
    In 2017, Out of 1 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2016, Out of 9 Votes: 44.44% Annoying