Chris, I thought we went through this: The little wheel powers the talent, the big wheel powers everying else.
For everyone else: I sent blueprints to Chris last week, detailing the electro-mechanical constructs of the set. You see, under the wheel, you'd find a long shaft composed of carbon nanotubes, one of the strongest man-made fibers in exsistance. The shaft to the wheel itself actually extends deep underground, where scientist monitor the ultra-powerful Vandegraft Dynamic Generator that is powered by it.
That generator, in turn, powers the nation. Seriously: three complete revolutions is enough to power a city of 100,000 people for a week. Turning the wheel backwards would be a lot like how unwinding an alarm clock robs said clock of all potential energy.
Nobody turns the wheel the wrong way, because nobody wants to be known as the person responsible for the complete and utter destruction of the world economy, and human civiliazation. I wouldn't, and I think I'd be pretty certain that you wouldn't either, unless you consider yourself a kneejerk black-block anarchist.
But seeing as how Pat and Harry Freidman's team of elite pirate ninja robot commando operatives (aka the "contestant coordinators") keep that from ever happening, the only danger the world faces is one of those aforementioned ops going 'rogue.'
And that's what the monkey butlers are for.
Even then, someone getting caught in a 'throwwrong' faces sudden and immediate ostricization. Nobody at Sony Pictures likes a non-conformist. And being eternally hated by Sajak & Company is deterrant enough.