A “Wheel of Fortune” player sounded like she got the correct answer in the bonus round Tuesday — but was denied the $40,000 prize. (Watch the video below.)
The contestant, Megan, had already won $14,007 and was vying for bigger bucks in the category of “Living Thing.” She eventually faced the two-word puzzle with five blanks remaining: “P_N_/_RC_ _D.”
“Pink Orchid,” she seemed to correctly say as the 10 seconds ticked down, according to dozens of outraged fans on X, formerly Twitter.
Host Pat Sajak, however, did not credit her for the solve, and time expired.
Viewers cried foul on social media while media outlets reported on the apparent snafu.
Although many watchers argued that Megan solved the puzzle, the full-length replay of the round on the “Wheel of Fortune” YouTube channel told another story.
HuffPost activated the closed-captioning, which revealed that Megan said “Something Orchid” as if she were verbalizing her guessing strategy. She also registered no objection or surprise that she didn’t win and said “Pink” as the solution was revealed, seemingly out of frustration that she didn’t solve it.
“You might have been overthinking,” said Sajak, who opened the card to reveal that Megan could have pocketed $40,000.
The host then congratulated Megan on the $14,007 she had won.
HuffPost reached out to “Wheel of Fortune” for comment on those skeptical about Megan’s loss. Hopefully, we’ll hear back soon.
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