One word.
That’s all that cost a recent “Wheel of Fortune” contestant a win during a crossword round on the show — and some fans of the series aren’t too happy about it.
The technicality occurred during Wednesday’s episode, according to Entertainment Weekly and Yahoo. With only two missing letters on the board, the contestant, named David, took his shot at the puzzle, under the category Catch of the Day, by saying “sole, flounder, cod and catfish.”
Unfortunately, this wasn’t technically correct, because the word “and” wasn’t on the board.
Host Pat Sajak reiterated the strict rule to David before he gave his answer, telling the contestant, “Don’t add anything,” when he said he’d like to solve the puzzle. Another contestant, named Danielle, solved it the next turn by saying the same series of words, but without any added conjunctions.
And even she seemed surprised when Sajak told her she’d answered correctly.
“I thought that’s what you said,” she told David.
Sajak later clarified the difference.
“David did that thing that’s so easy to do,” said the host. “He added an ‘and.'”
While some “Wheel of Fortune” viewers appreciated this attention to detail, others suggested it was time for a rule change.
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“Wheel of Fortune does not need to be like this,” wrote Twitter user @slashkevin, who posted a clip of the incident.
“Rules are rules,” tweeted user @phillyrj.
“@WheelofFortune Fix the ‘and’ rule,” tweeted user @kitchensinksub, adding the hashtag #Davidshouldhavewon.
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“So when a contestant doesn’t answer in the form of a question on Jeopardy! or goes over by a dollar on The Price Is Right, they should disregard it too?” asked Twitter user @jlcreynold82. “The rules are the rules.”
“I generally agree with strict adherence to rules, which helps ensure consistent treatment among contestants,” tweeted user @Michael__Stone. “But ‘and’ should be allowed on crossword puzzles.”
