'Wheel of Fortune' fans call for rule change after technicality costs contestant a win
Wheel of Fortune contestant Kristen Shaw lost a lot of money on a minor mistake Thursday night. Turns out the rules for the occasional “crossword puzzle” challenge are rather particular.
In order to solve the “crossword puzzle” a contestant must list the words that appear in the puzzle. In this case there were four words, “right,” “football, “left” and “Sally.” Unfortunately Shaw said, “Right, football, left and Sally.” Since she included the conjunction “and” she lost.
Host Pat Sajak felt bad for Shaw, especially because he tried to warn her right before she answered Sajak said, “Most times I caution people not to add anything, and you maybe didn't even hear yourself say it but you threw an "And" in there with the last thing and we have to go by the rules.”
Shaw lost out on $1,950 in cash and a trip to Nashville, which was valued at over $8,000. The next contestant answered the puzzle correctly, without an “and,” and went on to finish ahead of her at the end of the game.
Fans felt sorry for Shaw’s honest mistake. In fact many took to Twitter to call for rule changes and express their disbelief.
The 'and' rule is garbage. She deserved Nashville! #WheelOfFortune
— ⭐⭐Drone637 (@Drone637) November 22, 2019
They can easily change the rule to allow "and" as part of your verbal answer. Conjunctions are natural parts of speech an should be ok for crosswords. #WheelOfFortune
— Total D (#44) (@drewbreess) November 22, 2019
Utterly ridiculous that you didn't give credit to Kristen for the ___ field puzzle because she said "and" before the last word of the list. Functionally no different from the pauses you allow. You know she knew the puzzle @WheelofFortune Not cool. #WheelOfFortune
— Dr. Porter-Stransky (@NeuroVixen) November 22, 2019
The "and" trap on #WheelOfFortune crosswords. Oh man!
— ᗰเҡε🌙 (@8BallZen) November 22, 2019
While it was certainly a disappointing turn of events for Shaw, she still went home with $3,000 AND a smile.
Wheel of Fortune airs weekdays, check their site for local listings.
See why Wheel of Fortune fans were fuming after Pat Sajak appears to make mistake:
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