So I’m watching Wheel of Fortune right now, mainly because there is nothing better to watch at 7:30. While the Wheel of Fortune can be a great time killer between the news and primetime shows, I learned two very important things while watching it: Vanna White must spend a small fortune on plastic surgery and Botox, and most people are absolutely consumed by greed.

If you’re not familiar with the program (and you really should be), contestants win prizes and money by spinning a wheel and trying to solve a puzzle. Each time they spin the wheel, the wheel lands on a prize or monetary amount. If they contestant correctly guesses a letter on the in the puzzle, they win whatever is on the wheel. The prizes and money add up with each time you make a correct guess, so the more correct guesses you make, the more you win. But, if you make a wrong guess, or if the wheel lands on a Lose a turn tile, you lose your turn and the next contestant gets a shot. Even worse, you could lose all your winnings if the wheel lands on the Bankrupt tile.

Savvy players know to solve the puzzle once they figure it out. After all, each time you wish to spin the wheel to make another guess and potentially earn more winnings, you run the risk of all your winnings. But I constantly see contestants blinded by greed as they keep spinning the wheel, even when they know the answer. Why do they do this? They see all the potential earnings sitting in front of them, and risk it all to add small amount to their winnings.

I think you can guess what happens next. The wheel lands on the Bankrupt tile, and they lose thousands of dollars and a trip to some hot and humid island. Why do they do this? After all, if you know they answer to the puzzle, why would you risk everything you’ve earned just to add a little extra? Why risk a large sum of money so you can add small amount to it? To me, the risk versus the reward just isn’t worth it.

I was discussing this with some coworkers today, and we came to this conclusion: When you start the game with nothing, you have nothing to lose.