'Wheel of Fortune' fans left disappointed as player loses $50,000 over a tricky puzzle
She did her best but her choice of letters was not good enough.
Dec. 3 2025, Published 10:00 a.m. ET
"Wheel of Fortune" fans have been left disappointed on several occasions because of players losing in the bonus round despite performing well throughout the episode. After the most recent bonus round loss, fans also seemed unsure about what the answer could have been. She did earn more than $19,000 in cash and prizes before the Bonus Round, and was not too upset about failing to win an additional $50,000 in the end.
After talking about a family business that she works for, the contestant named Elizabeth revealed that the two people who had accompanied her to the show were her mother, Susan, and husband, Joey. Once all the introductions were done and the contestant was ready to move forward, she gave the wheel a good spin, and it landed on the ampersand wedge. She had chosen the ‘Phrase’ category and was given the letters R, S, T, L, N, and E.
As per the rules of the show, Elizabeth now had the chance to pick three more consonants and one more vowel. She made some unusual choices as she chose the letters W, B, M, and A. Unfortunately, her gamble did not pay off too well, as they did not do much to clearly open up the puzzle. After these letters were revealed, it now reads, “___TE A __MB_.” It was clear that solving the puzzle was not going to be easy.
The contestant only had 10 seconds to solve it, and she said, “Quite a limbo.” However, that was not the correct answer. She did guess the first word correctly, but not the last. The 10-second timer ran out, and Elizabeth was not able to give the right answer. It was then revealed to be “Quite a combo.” Seacrest then revealed that the contestant could have won an additional $50,000.
However, Elizabeth was not upset as she had won $19,859, which was a big amount of money. Fans of the show, however, were not too pleased with the loss. “Quite a combo to see some contestants struggle with the bonus round,” one fan wrote under the clip on YouTube. “The m and b were good choices, but the c and o should have helped. That's quite a combo. No 50k Winner but maybe tomorrow,” another fan added. “Tough bonus puzzle,” one more viewer noted.
You can watch the disappointing game in the video here.
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