‘Wheel of Fortune’ Watchers Got Really Confused Over Recent Bonus Puzzle

Wheel of Fortune fans are blasting the long-running game show over a particularly confusing answer. Following a string of butchered answers, including what many dubbed the “biggest choke” in the show’s history, a puzzle on the Friday, March 17 episode even left viewers stumped, some taking to social media to call “BS” and criticize the “unfair terminology.”

Friday’s episode saw contestant Julie Medcalf from Wylie, Texas attempting to win big alongside the support of her brother and 9-year-old son. After netting the highest score of over $15,000, Medcalf chose the Person category for her bonus puzzle. With the following letters filled out, “”_ O _ N _ _ N GP_ R T N E R,” Medcalf was completely stumped and unable to solve the puzzle. The correct answer was “FOUNDING PARTNER,” with host Pat Sajak later revealing that Medcalf missed out on an additional $40,000.

The puzzle seemed to stump more people than just Medcalf, though, with many Wheel of Fortune viewers left equally confused. After the correct answer was revealed, many even took to social media to blast the game show for the puzzle, one person writing, “Founding partner is not a thing: founding fathers YES. Such BS.” Somebody else blasted the terminology of the answer, tweeting, “Founding partner is an unfair terminology word usage and this type of wordplay should not be allowed.” A third person wrote, “Founding Partner? The writers really phoned that one in!”

Not everyone was quite as confused, though, with one viewer explaining, “Sorry to say but I’m labeled as a Founding Partner for several businesses and that phrase is used everywhere in every Country for businesses everywhere… I knew the answer right away, but maybe it’s because I know what the phrase means.”

Another person shared, “I got it without the First R! It is a legitimate word.” However, one person conceded that while “founding partner” is a relatively widely used and accepted term, “I don’t think a lot of people would’ve gotten it. It really was quite a tricky one.”

According to Capital.com, a founding partner is “the owner or owners of the initial company acquired by private equity buyers seeking to merge a number of firms in the same line of business into a larger entity. As they were in at the start of this consolidation, they are called founding partners.” Although Medcalf missed the answer to the puzzle, she still ended Wheel of Fortune Friday with $15,000.