By Joseph Tucci
The Middletown Press, Conn.
ROCKY HILL, Conn. — Rocky Hill Police Officer Will Jordan made it a tradition to watch “Wheel of Fortune” with his son Sean almost every night. However, after going viral during an episode of the show that aired on Monday night, he found millions of people watching him.
For years, Jordan and his son watched “Wheel of Fortune” together and Jordan often answered the questions posted to the contestants from the couch. Impressed by his father’s enthusiasm for the show, Sean, 11 at the time, filled out an application in the hopes his dad could get a chance to compete. After a five-month audition process, Jordan found out he made it on the show while he and his family were vacationing in Ireland during the summer.
“Two weeks after getting back from Ireland, we jumped on the plane and headed out to California and that proved to be one of the best experiences of our lives,” Jordan said. “Even if you take this viral moment away, you take the money I won away; just having that experience of being at Sony Studios, it was just straight-up magical.”
Jordan went viral after attempting to solve the phrase on the “Wheel of Fortune” puzzle board, which was displaying “_ — _ E — YOURSE_F A ROUN_ OF A — _ — AUSE” by guessing “Treat yourself a round of sausage.” The officer said that the pressure he felt from being on the show, as well as seeing stars like show hosts Ryan Seacrest and Vanna White, caused “his brain to stop working.” The correct answer was “Give yourself a round of applause.”
“I’ve been in a million stressful situations as a police officer, but this got to me,” Jordan said.
The officer said he knew the “sausage” moment might go viral, but he didn’t expect it to get as much attention as it did. The moment was even featured in late-night shows like “The Late Show” with Stephen Colbert, “The Tonight Show” with Jimmy Fallon and " Jimmy Kimmel Live.” Despite the large amount of attention the moment has brought, Jordan said that he has not been intimated by it.
While the episode that Jordan was featured in aired on Veterans Day, it was filmed in August. Jordan added that while filming he felt a great sense of camaraderie with his fellow veterans, including Kitina Thomas, who solved the puzzle board phrase correctly. Jordan grew up in the rural town of Burlington and went on to serve as a petty officer in the United States Coast Guard and later as a sergeant at the Newington Police Department before retiring for a time. Wanting to continue serving citizens, he came out of retirement and joined the Rocky Hill Police Department in 2022.
“The camaraderie was right there from the get-go; we were all together for like 10 or 12 hours, and at the end of the day, it was almost sad to say goodbye after one day. It was really cool and we were rooting for each other and laughing,” Jordan said.
On Veterans Day, Jordan threw a watch party at the TJ’s on Cedar sports bar in Newington. Wanting to use the moment to help his community, he asked his friends to donate to the Rocky Hill Food Bank and ended up raising around $1,750.
“When the funny moment happened, we started hugging each other and laughing. I’ll never forget that,” Jordan said.
This wasn’t the first time Jordan has spearheaded a fundraiser. When the officer was working at the Newington Police Department , he ran the Police Stuff-A-Cruiser Toy Drive event for 14 years, collecting thousands of toys for families in need. In his role as a school resource officer, he runs “Fun Football Fridays,” during which the students from across Rocky Hill can play football as well as meet officers from town.
Jordan hopes he can continue to use the attention from the viral moment to raise awareness for issues, such as mental health struggles and physical ailments, affecting fellow veterans. He plans to “brainstorm” the best way how to make that happen.
“Whatever the most critical needs are, whether it’s supplies or it’s money, I want to be able to address them,” Jordan said. “Maybe we could even use the money we raise to rent a couple of Greyhound buses to take the veterans on a trip.”
Jordan added that he hopes to contribute to building a better sense of trust between police officers and the rest of the community in the wake of the “Defund the Police” movement, which was brought about by cases like the 2020 murder of George Floyd, in which police officers were charged and convicted.
“People have to remember, there’s a million police contacts a day in this country; when a teacher or a doctor does something inappropriate, we don’t condemn the whole profession. I want to put a positive light on law enforcement,” Jordan said. “I will tell you that this is the best community-oriented police department in the country, hands down. It’s unbelievable what they have done over the years to be on the same page with the community.”
Jordan added that his “optimistic” outlook and his family have gotten him through rough times.
“I tell my family, this is my slice of heaven. No matter what call I might have just been on an hour ago, a horrible fatality or something else terrible, when I come home, it’s always been that slice of heaven,” Jordan said.
Jordan joked that he expects his fellow officers to tease him about the moment and maybe even fill his car with sausages — though that hasn’t happened as of yet.
“We like to bust chops and (make fun of) each other. But that’s a sign people care,” Jordan said.
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