“Wheel of Fortune” host Pat Sajak has come to the defense of three clueless contestants whose repeated inability to solve a seemingly easy puzzle has created a social media trollfest.
What Happened: According to a Deadline report, the Tuesday broadcast of the long-running game show, which is produced by Sony Pictures Television, a unit of Sony Group Corp (NYSE:SONY), included a game where the puzzle was filled to the point where only four letters were missing, leaving the contestants to fill in the blanks for the phrase “Another feather _n yo_r _a_.”
However, the three contestants repeatedly failed to solve the puzzle, coming up with incorrect answers including “Another feather in your hat,” “Another feather in your lap” and “Another feather in your map.” Complicating matters were two incorrect consonant choices and three wheel spins that landed on the Bankrupt slot.
More than two minutes passed before the correct answer of “another feather in your cap” was finally declared.
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What Happened Next: The segment created an immediate fury on social media, with waves of negative comments about the contestants. The media industry resource Mediaite went further in declaring the segment mirrored the nation’s intellectual deterioration.
“PAINFUL: We were reminded Tuesday night why America is in decline during a display on @WheelofFortune, when contestants took over two minutes to solve an obvious and rudimentary puzzle,” tweeted Mediate.
But Sajak pushed back at the mean-spirited comments aimed at the contestants.
“It always pains me when nice people come on our show to play a game and win some money and maybe fulfill a lifelong dream, and are then subject to online ridicule when they make a mistake or something goes awry,” Sajak tweeted, saying that the contestants are “good people in a bad situation under a kind of stress that you can’t begin to appreciate from the comfort of your couch.”
Sajak expressed outrage that social media denizens for insulting contestants through name-calling, warning the negativity spreaders that the karmic wheel of retribution might spin them around.
“But have a little heart,” he cautioned. “After all, you may be there one day. And no one wants to be trending on Twitter.”
Photo: Courtesy of Sony Pictures Television
