WHEEL of Fortune fans were left furious over what became a hotly debated judgment call on Thursday’s episode.
A legion of viewers felt Alexa correctly guessed the bonus puzzle and was “robbed” of the $100K prize.
ABCWheel of Fortune fans roared ‘She 100% said Just Winging It’[/caption]
ABC‘Just winging it! She said it! Replay the tape! Give her the 100k!’[/caption]
Wheel of Fortune is hitting the books for a college week special – featuring three studious solvers per night in their school crewnecks.
Jordan from Stanford University faced Chandra a senior at UC-Davis and Alexa from Texas Women’s University.
Alexa emerged as the high-scorer and went to the bonus round with $19K – she chose “What are you doing?” as her category.
She picked “DCPI” as her additional four letters and the puzzle read “__ST _IN_IN_ IT.”
When the 10-second timer began it sounded like she correctly guessed “Just Winging It” to quite a few game show fans.
Pat, 76, began to reply “say-” but he did not finish the thought, theoretically he was going to tell her to “say it again.”
Instead, she kept guessing alternatives: “Must Winning it, Best Winning it” and the timer ran out.
Longtime host Pat lamented “You were right there,” and the studio audience roared in disappointment as it was decided she didn’t solve it.
“So close” Alexa told him as the camera cut to both of them standing by the wheel and she tried to be a good sport.
‘I FEEL TERRIBLE’
Pat opened and closed the prize card because it was a huge amount of money.
“Oh man, you know,” he apprehended as the live crowd continued revolting over the supposed miss.
He revealed she lost out on a giant $100K and said: “I can’t help it.”
“I feel terrible, but anyway you win $19.2K – still an impressive haul.”
‘THEY CHEATED HER!’
Viewers spun into a huge debate on Twitter where many people felt that Alexa had said the puzzle as intended on her first guess.
One person wrote: “Just watched and watched again. She got it on her first guess! She said ‘JUST WINGING IT’ and I absolutely didn’t hear @PatOnWheel say ‘no’. I’m sure I’m not alone!”
Another wrote: “Hey @WheelofFortune owes her $100K. She said that first!!”
Someone else replied: “I agree!! I don’t hear anything but ‘winging’. I wonder why she didn’t say she said that [she was correct]!”
A third wrote: “That really ticked me off. She even fully enunciated.”
A fourth wrote she: “100% said it” and a fifth said: “I agree that she said the right answer I think they cheated her.”
“Yep. She said Just winging it. I heard it” wrote a sixth.
“I replayed it several times and it sounds like “winging” to me!” wrote another.
One more said: “I think she was confused and didn’t know what to do (and was probably waiting for the judges to say something!).”
“I’m absolutely certain that the first thing she said was ‘Just winging It.’ You owe that young woman an apology and $100,000!”
Other fans begged: “@WheelofFortune who has the footage? She got robbed”
“Was just coming here to ask @WheelofFortune why when she clearly said the correct answer as her first response, they claimed she didn’t win. They totally owe her $100k (and us an explanation).”
“Played it over and over 5x , she said it but j was muffled but she said it first.”
”She said it!!!! Looks like Pat started to say ‘say it again’ but stopped. You can tell she is confused it wasn’t right. And her final expression when it was revealed was ‘Wait I said that.’”
Some viewers replied that Alexa said “winning” not “winging” but the mixed reactions kept rolling in.
“Even Vanna was nodding her head yes after she said it,” one more wrote.
ABCA third fan roared: ‘She said it!!!! Looks like Pat started to say ‘say it again’ but stopped’[/caption]
ABCHost Pat Sajak said he felt ‘terribly’ and the crowd roared[/caption]
ABCA huge portion of viewers felt she said ‘Just Winging It’ while some defended the show and said she said ‘Just Winning It’[/caption]
