Yahoo Movies Pat Sajak apologizes for not knowing who Benedict Cumberbatch was during Celebrity Wheel of Fortune
Between Sherlock and Doctor Strange, Benedict Cumberbatch is pretty much a household name. But as Sunday's Celebrity Wheel of Fortune episode showed, he's apparently not well known to everyone — even other celebrities.
After Fresh Prince of Bel-Air star Tatyana Ali solved the puzzle "Eggs Benedict Cumberbatch," Wheel host Pat Sajak told Ali to explain who Cumberbatch was. Ali hesitantly confirmed Cumberbatch was an actor, looking to Sajak for confirmation.
ABC/Eric McCandless; Roy Rochlin/Getty Images Pat Sajak and Benedict Cumberbatch.
Except the host couldn't give her any — he admitted he asked her to answer the question because he didn't know.
"So I pretended like I was just saying 'tell us.' I, of course, know it, but you tell us — and that was a little host trick," he told Ali with a laugh.
He then added, "My apologies, Mr. Cumberbatch. But I spend a lot of time in my basement. I have no idea what's going on."
ABC Benedict Cumberbatch in a 'Celebrity Wheel of Fortune' puzzle.
After some social media outcry from fans who couldn't believe Sajak didn't know one of Hollywood's most prominent actors, the show reinforced Sajak's apology with one of its own via Twitter.
"Our apologies, Benedict Cumberbatch!" they wrote after the show finished airing, adding a laughing-crying emoji for good measure.
Our apologies, Benedict Cumberbatch! 😂 #CelebrityWheelOfFortune
— Wheel of Fortune (@WheelofFortune) January 24, 2022
To most who know him, Cumberbatch is an Emmy-winning actor who has been nominated for multiple Golden Globes, an Academy Award, and has played the longtime role of Sherlock Holmes in the British crime drama Sherlock. He also plays Doctor Strange in the Marvel Cinematic Universe franchise. (In fact, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, the follow-up film to his 2016 Doctor Strange origin movie, will premiere this May.) And he appeared as Doctor Strange in Spider-Man: No Way Home, which recently became the first movie to hit $1 billion worldwide during the pandemic.
Hopefully, MCU fans didn't give Sajak any hard feelings for not knowing the Sorcerer Supreme. And with his new Netflix film Power of the Dog currently garnering some intense awards buzz, maybe Sajak will finally learn who Cumberbatch is before another clue comes his way.
Sign up for Entertainment Weekly's free daily newsletter to get breaking TV news, exclusive first looks, recaps, reviews, interviews with your favorite stars, and more.
Related content:
