'Wheel of Fortune' contestant fails to solve puzzle even though the most important word was obvious

Viewers feel terrible about players who play really well in “Wheel of Fortune,” only to fall to a difficult puzzle at the end. But sometimes it's painful for them to watch a contestant throw away a major prize, even when they need to figure out a couple of simple words. But it's hard to solve even a simple puzzle when the pressure of getting it right in 10 seconds gets to the contestant, and that's why Ryan Halsey fumbled, even though the last word, which was key to the phrase, was almost entirely filled in.

Halsey had already won a whopping $39,450 and a trip to Costa Rica in the run-up to the Bonus Round, as per a report in TV Insider. He could have won a bigger amount of money in the Bonus Round or a brand-new Ford car if he solved the puzzle. Halsey had brought his parents, Tim and Jerry, to support him on the show. “Not Tom and Jerry,” host Ryan Seacrest joked. The contestant picked the Phrase category and was given the letters R, S, T, L, N, and E. After these letters were revealed, it read, “___L_ _E _EL _ _ _ TE_.” He now had the chance to pick three consonants and one vowel for the game to go further.

Ryan chose the letters G, F, H, and O. These were decent guesses, and it opened up the puzzle quite a bit. It now read, “_   _O_L_   _E   _EL_GHTE_.” The fourth word was almost clear for Halsey to see, and the rest of the words would've been easy to guess after that. However, as the clock started ticking down, no matter how much he tried, the contestant did not think of the answer in time.

He muttered some answers that might have been close, but none of them was the correct option. “You were on to it,” the host said before revealing the correct answer, which was ‘I would be delighted.’ He then opened the envelope to see what Halsey could have won, and the word ‘Ford’ was written inside it. The contestant knew at this point that he had missed a big opportunity to win a car. 

There was a little disappointment in his reaction, but overall, there were no hard feelings. He graciously accepted the defeat and moved on since he had won almost $40,000 without the Bonus Round anyway. Fans, however, were not ok with this, since they believed that it was an easy puzzle to solve and that the contestant shouldn’t have had a problem getting it right. They called this out in the comments on YouTube.

“Ouch! And I literally got that myself! Oh well, there's always tomorrow,” one user commented. “I was surprised he didn't get it. Congrats on the other wins,” added another fan. “To the other Ryan (Not Seacrest): I am VERY disappointed in you!  EVEN I KNEW WHAT THE PUZZLE WAS!!!!!!” exclaimed a viewer, who was clearly let down.