'Wheel of Fortune' fans slam contestant for losing $50,000 after getting an 'easy' puzzle wrong

"Wheel of Fortune" fans had been frustrated with the show for throwing impossible puzzles at contestants in the bonus round and triggering a losing streak. But while they felt most players were wronged by the difficulty of the puzzles, fans were shocked to see one contestant lose out on a rather easy one. The player, Janie, failed to guess a commonly used phrase, "Keep up the good work," in the final round of the show. She lost out on winning an additional $50,000, and the viewers did not mince their words while reacting to the loss.

Janie got off to a rough start but made a comeback by solving the second toss-up puzzle to take the lead from Willis. However, she couldn't keep the momentum up as Willis solved several puzzles in succession to carve out a sizable lead, as per Andy Nguyen's blog. Janie finally got the chance to claw back in the Express Round, where she won the "Supernatural Walking Tour" worth $8,550. In the end, the retired educator emerged as the big winner of the day with a total of $19,200 in cash prizes and the trip to Savannah, Georgia.

Going into the Bonus Round, she picked the dreaded puzzle category, "Phrase," and was joined by her loving husband on the stage. Alongside the host Ryan Seacrest, Janie spun the wheel and picked out her Golden Envelope, which could win her up to $100,000 more or a brand new car. With the show's standard letters, "R, S, T, L, N, E," on the board, Janie went on to choose "F, D, H, and O" as her additional letters. With all the letters filled in, her final puzzle  read, “_EE_     _ _    THE     _OOD     _OR_." 

While the puzzle may have seemed clear to most of the viewers, unfortunately, Janie couldn’t figure it out. As Seacrest kicked off the ten-second timer, all she could come up with was, "Good Word?” “You probably needed a little more help,” Seacrest said to comfort the player as the time ran out. The show's co-host, Vanna White, then revealed that the answer was “Keep Up The Good Work.”

Adding to the heartbreak, Seacrest revealed that Janie had lost out on winning an additional $50,000, which would have taken her total to nearly $70,000. While she was disappointed, Janie quickly got over it, saying, "I’m very happy.” However, the viewers didn't cut her any slack.

In the comments of the show's Bonus Round clip, fans roasted the player for not getting the commonly used phrase. "This was the phrase commonly used in schools. Janie is actually a teacher, so how did she forget to keep up the good work?" wrote one fan, @Animegamespublishing.

"Wow, they actually had a phrase in the bonus round that people use," added another fan, @Benjamin-The-Great. However, some defended the player, suggesting that the letter picks did not go her way. "Janie's needed one more letter and that would've been "P's" and miss out on 50k, which is a lesser painful, but surprisingly the "D" was a decent choice to pick and the "O's" was actually the right vowel to pick," explained @jacobwilson6192.

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