'Wheel of Fortune' fans called out Pat Sajak for 'influencing' a child to 'gamble' his money away
As the host of "Wheel of Fortune" it's part of Pat Sajak's job to support contestants and guide them towards big wins. But his attempts to help a teenager on the show backfired and triggered a backlash from fans for leading the boy towards bankruptcy. A tenth-grader from California named Deepshiv made his fortune by stumbling upon a $1,000 wedge. He chose the letter T to solve the puzzle for the round, and Sajak told him that the answer contained six, earning him a $6,000 payout. As per Newsweek, the game show host then hinted to the teenager that he had the option to either pick the wedge and increase his earnings by $10,000 or risk losing everything. “Do you want my advice? No, I can’t give it to you.” He then said, “If it were me, I might...,” but didn't complete the sentence. Following this, Deepshiv said, “You know what I’ll take it!”
“You really will? Are you sure? Go ahead!” Sajak encouraged him. The teen held up the wedge, but, to his disappointment, it displayed 'bankruptcy.' “I’m sorry,” Sajak said, trying to console the teen, before exclaiming, “A gambling man!" While Deepshiv moved on to the next round with hope, fans of the show directed their outrage at Sajak's hosting skills on X. They called out the experienced host for misleading the young boy into losing his fortune. "He figured the young man would have solved the puzzle so he influenced him to gamble it away!!!!" a viewer pointed out. "I feel like Pat pressured Deepshiv to take the mystery box," another fan alleged. "Agree, Pat must have known that outcome was not in favor of the kid, he should have kept his mouth shut," an X user suggested.
However, despite facing momentary loss, Deepshiv's optimism won him a total of $65,360 after earning $45,000 in the bonus round. Meanwhile, Sajak literally bent the rules for another 10th grader during the game show the same year. As per The Sun, Ross was given a second chance while solving a puzzle, "This is exciting. This so. This is so exciting!" he declared while solving the task under the category "Phrase". But the original answer was "This is so exciting," so Sajak allowed the teen from Ohio to solve it again. "If a player goes off on a wrong track like that, as long as they go back and finish when they run through it again, they're good!" he explained to the audience after pausing the game.
However, fans were irked by his lenient behavior because it hadn't been done before. "I couldn’t believe they let him have the puzzle round. They never give it when they mess up the answer. First time I have ever seen them do that," a viewer slammed Sajak on X. "Yes I thought Pat always says we have to take what you first say," a fan chimed in. Viewers argued that Sajak did not stand by the words he repeated before the puzzle round, which were, "Say everything, don't add anything, go ahead." His two-faced behavior didn't sit well with the audience, and Sajak was criticized for his prejudice.
