Pat Sajak Defends Contestants Who Failed to Solve ‘Wheel of Fortune’ Puzzle

in Entertainment, Movies & TV

Pat Sajak on Wheel of Fortune

Credit: ABC

Wheel of Fortune host Pat Sajak is speaking out about that viral puzzle which stumped the contestants.

pat sajek vanna white wheel of fortune
Credit: ABC

The fan-favorite game show, Wheel of Fortune, originally began on NBC as a day time series, which debuted in 1975. 6 years later, in 1981, current host Pat Sajak stepped in alongside Vanna White to replace former host Chuck Woolery alongside Susan Stafford.

Sajek and Vanna have been hosting the show together for 39 years as millions of contestants have come on to try and solve enough word puzzles to get to the bonus round and spin the wheel.

wheel of fortune puzzle
Credit: Screenshot via ABC

On Tuesday’s episode of Wheel of Fortune, one of the puzzles completely stumped contestants, which has since gone viral as it is frustrating fans.

After the Wheel of Fortune contestants filled in a majority of the puzzle, the board read “Another feather _n yo_r _a_.” The wheel wasn’t kind to some of them as they spun “lose a turn” or “bankrupt”, but others were trying to solve the puzzle by guessing “Another feather in your lap” and “Another feather in your map”.

This went on for approximately two minutes before one of the contestants finally solved the puzzle, which was “Another feather in your cap”.

pat sajek vanna white wheel of fortune
Credit: ABC

Wheel of Fortune host Pat Sajak is now speaking out, defending the contestants for not solving the puzzle sooner. He took to Twitter, saying:

“It always pains me when nice people come on our show to play a game and win some money and maybe fulfill a lifelong dream, and are then subject to online ridicule when they make a mistake or something goes awry.

Now imagine you’re on national TV, and you’re suddenly thrown a curve and you begin getting worried about looking stupid, and if the feather isn’t in your hat, where the heck can it be? You start flailing away looking for alternatives rather than synonyms for ‘hat,’.

And, of course, when it’s solved, you want to crawl in a hole. I’ve been praised online for ‘keeping it together’ and not making fun of the players. Truth is, all I want to do is help to get them through it and convince them that those things happen even to very bright people.

But mocking them online and calling them names? These are good people in a bad situation under a kind of stress that you can’t begin to appreciate from the comfort of your couch.

Have a little heart. After all, you may be there one day. And no one wants to be trending on Twitter.”

pat sajak on wheel of fortune
Credit: ABC

Wheel of Fortune currently airs every evening on ABC at 7:30 p.m. EST, right after Jeopardy!.

Did you watch Tuesday’s episode of Wheel of Fortune? Did you solve the puzzle? Let us know in the comments below.

in Entertainment, Movies & TV

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