‘Wheel of Fortune’ live audience goes wild after contestant loses $1M to weird Bonus Round word
'Wheel of Fortune' fans are well aware that repeated patterns often appear during the Bonus Round, helping contestants win the grand prize. However, loyal viewers have accused the show of manipulating puzzles by using obscure words that often cause contestants to lose. One such moment occurred when Ohio native Paul Dodson lost $1 million to a difficult puzzle, prompting the studio audience to boo host Pat Sajak, who appeared visibly irritated.
As per TVInsider, Dodson chose the “What Are You Doing?” category, and the board displayed the usual R, S, T, L, N, and E. The puzzle board then read: “_ _ _ _ _ L _ N _.” Dodson then added the letters C, H, P, and A; however, none of them seemed to match with the odd blanks on the board. After a hesitant attempt, Dodson failed to solve the puzzle before the ten-second buzzer sounded. To his disappointment, the answer was revealed to be "Quibbling." The audience immediately protested, growing louder as Dodson encouraged them to speak out.
Ironically, the chaos on set mirrored the Bonus Round answer, “Quibbling,” which means raising objections about trivial matters. “Who asked you?” Sajak shot back without finding the situation funny. The audience then responded with roaring laughter and lauded the host. Sajak revealed that Dodson had missed out on an Infiniti car and showed the $1 million card he failed to claim during the final spin. Dodson walked away with his earlier winnings, a total of $33,550.
Earlier, Dodson competed against Venetia Brown from Tobyhanna, Pennsylvania, and Jessica Huffman from Moore, Oklahoma. HHuffman came in second with $7,550, while Brown placed third with $2,000. Online users supported the live audience on their stance over odd puzzles. "As a member of the audience for this game, I’m proud that we Quibbled over Quibbling!!!" a viewer commented under the YouTube video. "I remember an episode in 1999 where Pat was booed in Philly because of a weird puzzle. But that was weirder this time!" a fan recalled while criticizing. "Evil bonus round puzzle! EVILLLL!" a netizen chimed in. "There would be WAY more booing if he had actually lost the million dollars," another fan pointed out.
On Reddit, fans accused the show of deliberately setting up contestants to lose during the final weeks due to budget constraints. "They had too many wins and can’t afford any more. Don’t be surprised if we get no more wins in the remainder of the season. This same thing happened in Season 36 at the exact same point. The final six weeks, starting at the last Monday of April, had a record 20 losses in a row (shattering the previous record of 17 set in Dec 2000-Jan 2001), then one win (on a “show 6”/compilation ep that taped earlier than the other weeks), then nine more losses," a viewer reasoned. "I agree that they are far more challenging recently. As there have been several puzzle changes/new categories even in the regular rounds this season, I wonder if there are new writers on staff, I'm also guessing it's an intentional step to make the final round more difficult, kind of like how Final Jeopardy is supposed to be more difficult," another fan added as a matter of fact.