Pat Sajak has issued his statement in the defense of Wheel of Fortune contestants after they received criticism from viewers for not solving a recent puzzle.
On the March 1 episode of the game, a trio of Laura Machado, Christopher Coleman, and Thomas Lipscomb, failed to guess the correct phases for a puzzle.
The correct answer was “another feather in your cap”. However, a member Machado guessed “another feather in your lap”, “another feather in your hat,” and “another feather in your map.”
Also, Coleman struggled badly in solving the puzzle. On the other hand, Lipscomb eventually solved it after going “bankrupt” and “loss a turn” on spinning the wheel.
Following the episode’s airing, Twitter users mocked the contestants. Josh Gad tweeted, “God help us all,” and another social media user dubbed the segment “the dumbest two minutes in Wheel of Fortune history.”
Sajak, 75, came to the players’ defense amid the furor. “It pains me each time someone wonderful comes on our show to play a game and win money, only to be subjected to online abuse when they make a mistake or something goes wrong,” he tweeted on March 2.
“The previous night’s ‘Feather in your cap’ riddle was a great example. It appears incredible that they couldn’t figure it out at home, yet I knew exactly what was going on in real time.”
When “feather in your hat” was wrong, the game show host said that the contestants were “stunned.”
“Now, imagine you’re on national television and get a curveball thrown at you; now you’re getting nervous about looking stupid because the feather isn’t in your hat; where could the feather be? You start flailing around for alternatives rather than synonyms for “hat,” he added.
“And, of course, when it’s over, you want to crawl into a hole. I’ve been praised on social media for ‘staying calm’ and not making fun of the players. The fact is that all I want to do is assist them in getting through it and encouraging them that even bright individuals can suffer from this sort of
After that, Sajak told those who made fun of the players on the internet to grow up.
Sajak apologized for occasionally taunting contestants, but “when things go wrong, I feel for them and try to heal the wounds on camera and off.”