It appeared to be the Wheel of Misfortune for one contestant this week – but many viewers were convinced she was “deliberately tricked”.
During Wednesday night’s episode of Wheel of Fortune, viewers once again took to social media to express their frustration with the final puzzle as contestant Laura Young struggled to solve it.
Sadly, Laura’s failure to give a correct answer meant she lost out on a whopping prize of $100,000.
The puzzle’s category was labeled “Place”, and despite Young’s efforts, she couldn’t come up with the correct phrase within the time limit.
With the puzzle reading “_R _ _EL _ _ L _ _ _ _”, Young’s guesses, including the letters C, D, P, and O, didn’t lead to the answer.
Host Pat Sajak, who is set to retire from his role later this year, appeared visibly disappointed with Young’s choices and none of her letters appeared on the board.
The final answer turned out to be that famous place, “Gravel walkway” – an answer that some viewers argued was mischaracterized as a “place” rather than a “thing”.
Sajak expressed sympathy for Young’s missed opportunity to win the full amount, but she was awarded $19,250 in winnings from her efforts in the rest of the game. “No way you were gonna solve that puzzle with the letters you had,” he said.
Social media erupted with commentary on the puzzling final puzzle, with many users questioning the categorization of “gravel walkway” as a place.
“I’ve got beef with whoever makes the final puzzles on #WheelofFortune. I’d consider gravel walkway to be a ‘thing’ and not a place. The answers have been whack this week,” one viewer wrote on X.
“@WheelofFortune You don’t know the difference between a place and a Thing!! Gravel Walkway is NOT a place. Wrong,” a second viewer fumed.
A third added: “Wheel of Fortune, gravel walkway is not a place, deceptive, basically a cheat.”
Amid the controversy, others pointed out that the popular TV game show often adds adjectives to puzzles for added difficulty, and in this case, “gravel” was describing the “walkway.”
Just a friendly reminder that #WheelOfFortune likes to add adjectives to trick their contestants in the bonus round for added difficulty.
For example, GRAVEL WALKWAY on last night’s show. “WALKWAY” is the place, but Gravel is the adjective that describes the place, the walkway. pic.twitter.com/cGz9fouFYe
— Christian Dixie 🦋 (@CDixieee) April 11, 2024
One fan tweeted: “Just a friendly reminder that #WheelOfFortune likes to add adjectives to trick their contestants in the bonus round for added difficulty. For example, GRAVEL WALKWAY on last night’s show. ‘WALKWAY’ is the place, but Gravel is the adjective that describes the place, the walkway.”
Earlier in the episode, Young and her fellow contestants struggled with a puzzle in the “Occupation” category, with the answer being “Hollywood tour guide” – an answer none of the contestants got correct.
Despite the backlash, there’s no doubt millions of us will continue tuning in — it’s just such great TV!
