‘Wheel of Fortune’ Watchers Bash Show for Obscure Puzzle Answer

Wheel of Fortune has done it again, managing to stump not only contestants but also viewers with a recent puzzle. The long-running game show has once again found itself swept up in a bit of controversy after using an uncommon action as the answer in a bonus puzzle that cost one contestant $45,000, with many slamming the “ridiculous” puzzle.

The backlash is in response to Tuesday night’s episode, which saw a contestant named Angela stepping up to the wheel. After breezing through much of the game, Angela was left boggled by the answer to her bonus puzzle. After guessing the letters M, H, D, and O, and with just 10 seconds left, Angela attempted to solve a puzzle in the “What Are You Doing?” category that read “_ O _ N _ N _ THE _ R _ _.” “Joining the cramp, joining the cra-, oop!” she attempted to answer, going on to guess, “Joining the brag?” as her final answer.

Unfortunately, that guess was incorrect, with host Pat Sajak stating, “Oop,” before revealing the correct response, “Joining the fray.” He went on to offer Angela, who missed out on an additional $45,000, some words of encouragement, telling her, “You got joining … that was a really nice try.” Reacting to her massive loss in the bonus rounds, Angela kept cool, sharing, “Not a problem.” She ultimately walked away with $20,563 in winnings, and while she held her head high, viewers weren’t quite as willing to overlook the puzzle.

On social media, Wheel of Fortune fans blasted the show, with one person writing, “[Angela] on [Wheel of Fortune] got a piece of CRAP bonus round. I have NEVER heard of ‘Joining the Fray’ before in my ENTIRE life. Can we get some kind of sponsor to give this woman a prize? What the hell kind of puzzle was that??? Come on now. ridiculous!!” Responding to that tweet, somebody said, “Exactly!! I needed to get on Twitter and make sure I wasn’t the only one going “wtf is that!!” A third person tweeted, “WHAT THE HECK IS ‘ JOINING THE FRAY?’ I’m intelligent, but that is stupid.”

According to Oyster English, “joining the fray” is a phrase that means “to participate in a fight or argument that had already started.” The upheaval surrounding the phrase’s use on Wheel of Fortune comes just weeks after the show faced some backlash over a puzzle with the correct answer of “founding partner,” with some viewers dubbing the answer “unfair terminology.”