I’ll Spin

Every few months some new Wheel of Fortune "controversy" swirls around the internet. This time around it's about three contestants who either don't know, what looks to be an obvious, answer or never get the chance.

With the puzzle nearly revealed, a contestant asks to solve and then gets it wrong. It's a cringy moment, but it happens. Heck, it's a game show. People are going to mess up. But then the next contestant also guesses letters that weren't there and the third ends up landing on Bankrupt. They go around the horn a few more times, with the middle contestant getting two more tries to solve. And she gets it wrong.

Finally, the only contestant to not get a try twice then lands on some money for his turn and solves for the win. From home, it can be laughably frustrating to not solve something that seems so obvious. However, these people are under a lot of pressure and I am sure they're nervous. So while we can laugh and roll our eyes, I also felt some empathy towards this trio because when we get it wrong, we don't have an entire worldwide viewership watching us do it. This quote from forever-host Pat Sajack says it all.

Sajak alluded to contestants’ seeming embarrassment once the puzzle answer was revealed, suggesting they’d “want to crawl in a hole,” and saying that he felt it was his role to avoid chastising 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,” he said.