Wheel of Fortune has had many missteps over the years.
The long-running game show has seen contestants missing obvious answers and even host, Pat Sajak , getting snippy with some contestants.
But nothing was as bad as when the show let an incorrect win slide. Aren’t game shows are supposed to be fair?
Fans have since taken to social media to call on the show to do the right thing.
If there’s one thing you should know about ‘Wheel of Fortune,’ it’s that the show is usually a stickler for the rules.
This past summer, they were slammed by fans for adhering to a ridiculous rule that was introduced to the show in 2016.
Basically, when contestants solve the crossword puzzle format, the rule states that they are not allowed to say “and” before the last word on the list.
For example, you can’t say “eggs, bacon AND milk.” You can only say, “eggs, bacon, milk.”
This is a hard thing to avoid when you’re answering a list of words!
One contestant named David Pederson learned this rule the hard way when he went to solve the crossword under the category “Catch of the Day.”
He answered, “Sole, Flounder, Cod, AND Catfish.” While his answers were correct, including the conjunction “and” at the end was not.
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“No, sorry. That’s not right,” replied host Pat Sajak.
Since he lost on a technicality, another contestant got to solve the puzzle that he had already spelled out for them.
Many viewers took to Twitter to express their frustration over this. “@wheeloffortune really needs to do away with penalizing contestants who add ‘and’ when solving the crossword puzzles,” this viewer tweeted.
“They need to fix that freakin’ “and’ rule for #WheelOfFortune crossword puzzles. Come on,” wrote this user.
“Another contestant losing out on money because they said AND on the crossword puzzle. @WheelofFortune just change the dumbest rule ever and allow this,” another frustrated viewer wrote .
For being such sticklers with the rules, fans were shocked when they recently let a contestant’s incorrect win slide.
This took place on last Thursday’s episode. Contestant Steven Page was solving the puzzle “Quality Craftsmanship,” but he left out the “s” in “craftsmanship.”
Regardless, he wasn’t penalized for it.
He ended up winning $9,000 for the puzzle and he advanced to the bonus round.
Fans ended up taking to Twitter to share how unfair they felt it was to Page’s competitors, Lisa Volivitch and Christina Maril.
#WheelOfFortune why was Steven’s response on ‘Quality Craftsmanship’ rules correct tonight?? He said “quality craftmanship”—without the “S”! That’s incorrect!” one tweeted.
“Lisa deserves another $9k, as she would have got that on the next turn,” they added. Many viewers caught the same mistake.
“Did Steven just say QUALITY CRAFTMANSHIP? Not craftSmanship?!? I think he did…” another tweeted.
“@WheelofFortune Uh, he said ‘craftmanship’. That’s not correct. The word was “craftsmanship”!!! He shouldn’t have been in the bonus round! Cheated the lady out of the W. Can’t believe they didn’t catch the mistake!” a third added.
While Page made it to the bonus round, he didn’t solve the bonus puzzle.
That might make some fans happy, as will hearing that Maril and Volivitch still walked away with some earnings.
As for the alledged rule break, some fans are convinced that the show’s hosts, Pat Sajak and Vanna White, will rectify the situation.
“I truly feel like Pat and Vanna will let their conscience lead them to make right on the slip-up the other night,” one fan wrote.
“It will start with publicly admitting the mistake and how to fix it #WheelOfFortune.”
That hasn’t happened yet, but we’ll keep our fingers crossed!