'Wheel of Fortune' player loses $40,000 due to one letter — fans say she needed '5 more seconds'
"Wheel of Fortune" fans are usually invested in the contestant's game, and while they celebrate a win, viewers are also heartbroken after a loss. In many cases, fans blame puzzles that are almost impossible to solve for disappointing losses. They witnessed one such disappointment when a player came agonizingly close to tripling her money in the Bonus Round, but was outdone by just one letter. The player, Alexa Kalanz, travelled a rough road to the finale, racking up over $20,000 on the way. However, in the end, she failed to crack the bonus puzzle, "Riding Boots," as she got a word wrong because of just one letter. While the loss humbled the player, fans of the show had a lot to say and suggested that things could've been different if she had five seconds more.
Kalanz was off to a rough start as her rival Hernandez got the first few puzzles right to quickly rack up $15,650 in cash and an exotic trip to Italy. However, in the Mystery Round, Kalanz mounted a strong comeback to solve the puzzle and win a trip to Costa Rica for herself, worth $10,000, as per Andy Nguyen's blog.
While Hernandez maintained her lead, Kalanz swooped in to win $20,000 in cash. Advancing to the Bonus Round, she chose the category, "What are you wearing?" for her final puzzle.
When Ryan Seacrest made a joke saying, "This is fun. It's going to get funner. But I shouldn't say funner," Kalanz assured him that it wasn't a problem, as she was a math teacher. She then went on to spin the wheel with her husband, Michael, cheering for her.
After picking out her Golden Envelope, she was faced with a two-word puzzle. With the show's standard letters, "R, S, T, L, N, E," on the board, Kalanz went on to choose the letters "B, G, M, and O" as her additional letters. With this, the puzzle read, "R _ _ _ N G B O O T S."
Before Seacrest kicked off the ten-second timer, it seemed like Kalanz was at a loss for the only missing word. With the clock ticking, she yelled out a few guesses, including "Running Boots; Raining Boots; Rising Boots; Rubber Boots," but none of them were correct. "Oh, well, you really gave it a good try," Seacrest said as the timer ran out. Co-host, Vanna White, then revealed that the correct answer was "Riding Boots," which meant Kalanz was off by one letter when she said "Rising Boots."
To add to the heartbreak, Seacrest went on to reveal that she missed out on taking an additional $40,000 home. While Kalanz took the loss well, fans had a lot to say in the comments of the show's YouTube clip. "I thought it was racing boots. But riding.... so so close!" wrote @robertclimate1563.
"Riding boots were not expected, although it made sense. The vowel A is still up there, so there would've been a chance for racing boots. That was my 1st thought," suggested another fan, @cookierunkingdomnewadventu2265.
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