CONTROVERSY RISES AT END OF WHEEL OF FORTUNE EPISODE AFTER CONTESTANT APPEARS TO HAVE SAID THE CORRECT WORD
If you've ever watched a game show, you probably have some experience with making educated guesses about the correct answer or speculating about whether a competitor would get it right. When a recent Wheel of Fortune episode ended in controversy, viewers at home were thrust into a new situation.
One of the contestants, Megan, advanced to the bonus round in the episode that aired on January 30, 2024. She had ten seconds to figure out the puzzle there. She received the standard R, S, T, L, N, and E letters, and then the puzzle that said "Living Thing" appeared. After incorporating her additional deduced characters, the result was "P_N_ _RC_ _ D." The response that was right was "Pink Orchid."
She said something that sounded like "pink orchid" when the timer went off, but nothing happened, so she kept trying to guess the answer without success. The host, Pat Sajak, said to her after her segment concluded, "You might have been overthinking a type of orchid."
Megan responded, "Pink," with a painful smile, not questioning the outcome or expressing shock at losing even though she might have given the right response. Sajak said, "I'm sorry that didn't work out for you," then disclosed that she had lost out on $40,000. She did, however, walk home with a $14,007 prize.
Various viewers concurred with the production's recommendation. She may have been venting when she said, "som-PINK orchid." As in, take "something" off in the midst? A Twitter user asked, "Anyway, what a major bummer," to which many others agreed, speculating that she might have said, "Something orchid."