‘Wheel of Fortune’ player ‘robbed’ of $60K prize for puzzle ‘clearly solved,’ fans cry in online outrage
Livid “Wheel of Fortune” fans claim a contestant was robbed of $60,500 for her incorrect answer that might’ve actually been correct.
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Livid Wheel of Fortune fans claim a US contestant was robbed of A$65,000 for her incorrect answer that might’ve actually been correct.
The contestant, Megan, a married California high school choir director, needed to guess the two-word answer to solve a bonus puzzle for the category of “Living Thing”, The NY Post reports.
After Megan spins the wheel and it lands, host Pat Sajak picks up the prize estimate card and walks her to the puzzle board that reads, “_ _N_ ‘ _R_ _ _ _.’
Megan guesses a few letters until the board reads, “P_N_’ ‘_RC_ _ D’
With just 10 seconds left on the timer, Megan blurts out her final guess of what sounded like, “Pink Orchid” or very faintly could be heard as, “Something Orchid.”
Right when the timer goes off, the correct letters are filled onto the board, to which Meagan then reads off the correct answer, “Pink Orchid,” out loud in frustration.
“You might have been overthinking a type of orchid. I’m sorry that didn’t work out for you,” Sajak says, seemingly realising Megan could’ve been correct.
Sajak revealed the prize estimate card showing $40,000 to Megan afterward, far from the $14,007 she took.
Fans watching at home could not believe what they saw, making it known to Wheel of Fortune how upset they were about Megan’s answer being deemed wrong.
“The woman got screwed on #WheelOfFortune bonus puzzle tonight, she totally said “PINK ORCHID” right at the start,” one X user said.
“I questioned the judges from the first thing she said!! I’m deaf in one ear, and half remaining on right, so I use captions and lip read. She said “Pink Orchid”!! No question!!,” another fan who came to Megan’s defence quipped.
“I am FUMING!! She got it she said pink orchid! Wtf?!” a third person added.
“Hey @WheelofFortune I heard the contestant say “pink orchid” at the beginning of that final puzzle & rewound it to make sure. You owe her some $$$,” one annoyed viewer said.
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“Okay @WheelofFortune if you play tonight’s episode again for the final puzzle, the one that just aired, you will hear clearly that she said ‘pink orchid.’ You did not properly credit the winner. Go and play it back. Seriously she said exactly that! Pink Orchid!”
Things seem to be spinning out of control lately, as fans have called out Wheel of Fortune for mishaps.
Fans went into a frenzy on Jan. 22 when showrunners seemingly screwed up an answer during an Express round featuring the category of “Rhyme Time.”
Two contestants were stumped, but a third contestant named Jill finally solved it after guessing two “y’s” for the puzzle, which read out the rhyme: “Absolutely Positively.”
“Absolutely Positively is NOT a rhyme,” one fan argued on X.
“Hey @WheelofFortune,” another person wrote.
“Care to explain how these two words rhyme Because they absolutely positively DON’T.”
This article originally appeared in The NY Post and was reproduced with permission.
Originally published as ‘Wheel of Fortune’ player ‘robbed’ of $60K prize for puzzle ‘clearly solved,’ fans cry in online outrage
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