‘Wheel of Fortune’ viewers sympathize after player loses $40,000 on puzzle that felt ‘kinda tricky’
"Wheel of Fortune" fans were left disheartened after a contestant lost $40,000 in the Bonus Round over unlucky letter picks. The player, Callie DeWeese, who put up a great fight to reach the show's finale, looked set to take home a big prize. However, she was stumped by an ordinary-looking puzzle, "Wooden Spoon," in the end, after her letter picks turned out to be disastrous. Fans couldn't help but discuss how things would have gone if DeWeese had played it differently.
In the episode, DeWeese, a Coast Guard veteran of 22 years from Madison, Alabama, went up against Dalia Collins, an Air Force veteran from Las Vegas, Nevada, and Shawn Cochrane, an Army (Reserves) veteran from Garfield, New Jersey. She got off to a great start as she took the early lead after solving the very first Toss Up puzzle. With some cash already in her bank, she went on to score more going into the Express Round. There, she cracked the prize puzzle to win a trip to the Whaler’s Cove Oceanfront Luxury in Poipu, Kauai, worth $9,719, according to Andy Nguyen's blog. She kept the momentum up and emerged as the big winner of the night with a total of $14,719 in cash and the trip to Kauai.
Advancing to the Bonus Round, she chose the unique category, "In the Kitchen," for her final puzzle. Joining the host, Ryan Seacrest, at the wheel, DeWeese brought her mother, Jan, and daughter Harper to the stage for support. Once she picked out her Golden Envelope, she was faced with a short two-word puzzle on the board. With the show's standard letters, "R, S, T, L, N, E," filled in, she chose "K, M, H, A," as her additional letters However, the letter picks didn't yield a single clue on the board as the puzzle read, "_ _ _ _ E N S _ _ _ N."
As Seacrest kicked off the ten-second timer, DeWeese looked completely lost, as she could only say "kitchen." "What were you going to say with the 'S'?" Seacrest asked before revealing the answer, "Wooden Spoon." The host sympathized with the player, saying, "You didn't have enough to get going there. So I understand it," before revealing that she had lost out on taking home an additional $40,000.
While DeWeese took the loss sportingly, fans were quick to call out the mistakes she made. "Kinda tricky if you don't get the letters you want. I got the spoon idea, but not the first word," explained @lunamelody2025 on the YouTube video. "Feels like her letter choices were just wild guesses," added @rsybing. Some fans even bragged that they could still get the answer despite the lack of clues. "I already knew the answer without the extra letters that came in handy, but turns out to be a crappy call when she called those letters," wrote @BigManTransitEnthusiast.
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