A recent episode of Wheel of Fortune has fans of the show in a tizzy.
Sweethearts Week was to celebrate Valentine’s Day – featuring couples rather than single competitors.
One couple, Laura and Gary Novi from Odessa, Florida, dominated the game, earning them a trip to the Wheel of Fortune Bonus Round.
Laura and Gary’s category was “Place,” and along with the letters R, S, T, L, N, and E, the Novis chose W, M, D, and I, none of which appeared on their puzzle board, unfortunately for them.
The Novis were left to solve a puzzle that read “_ _ TER L_ _ _ _.”
Before their 10 seconds began on the timer host Pat Sajak encouraged the husband-and-wife duo, adding some humor to the mix.
“Those are very nice letters, and you’ll find them in many words in the English language,” Pat said.
“These don’t happen to be two of them, unfortunately,” Pat added.
Pat Sajak encourages Wheel of Fortune contestants, but they come up short
Pat continued to hype them up, telling Larua and Gary, “You know, talk it out. There are two of you. Listen to each other; maybe the right thing will come out.”
“Place. Ten seconds. Good luck,” Pat added as the timer began.
Neither Gary nor Laura uttered a word as their 10 seconds ticked away. Eventually, the buzzer sounded, leaving them right where they started.
As Pat told them, “All you needed was an ‘O’ or a ‘B,’ and you would have been there. Either one would have done it for ya.”
Next, Vanna White revealed the answer, “Outer Lobby,” much to their dismay after they realized they were only three letters away from winning $40,000.
Wheel of Fortune viewers at home gripe over the ‘weird’ word combination
After watching Laura and Gary’s Bonus Round, some Wheel of Fortune viewers headed to social media, blaming the show’s producers for making puzzles intentionally too difficult to solve.
“What the heck is an outer lobby? Is there an upper lobby I haven’t heard too?” asked one viewer on X (formerly Twitter), tagging Wheel of Fortune.
Another X user asked, “What the hell is an ‘outer lobby’ ???”
“Stop coming up with these weird combos so one one wins,” they added.
“‘Outer Lobby’??? When have those two words EVER been used together??? What??” queried another cynic.
Disgruntled Wheel of Fortune fans throw shade over contestants’ incorrect puzzle solves
This isn’t the first time Wheel of Fortune viewers have taken aim at producers — or host Pat Sajak, for that matter — when contestants have lost out.
Earlier this month, Wheel of Fortune viewers at home were certain they heard one contestant, Megan Carvale, utter the correct phrase when solving a puzzle.
The correct answer to the puzzle was “Pink Orchid,” and fans of the show believed Megan said the right phrase, but she actually said, “Something Orchid.”
Although her supporters felt she was cheated out of some major cash, Megan admitted she didn’t say the correct answer.
During an appearance on Good Morning America, Megan revealed, “You know, I wish I said ‘pink’ because I would have been $40,000 richer. But I said ‘something.'”
She continued to confess, “That word has already been haunting me, and now all of America believes that I said it, but I didn’t.”