'Wheel of Fortune' contestant fumbles easy puzzle worth $40,000 — fans call it a 'brutal' loss
"Wheel of Fortune" fans are sympathetic towards contestants who try their best but lose out in the bonus round because of puzzles that many consider impossible to solve. But they're also ruthless in their criticism of players who throw away games, even if the puzzles aren't so hard. They were left disappointed after a player who fought hard to make it to the bonus round lost out on winning big over an easy puzzle. The contestant, Kathryn McWhorter, made it to the finale with the tiniest margins of just $176 and hoped to increase her winnings. However, she was stumped by a seemingly easy but strange puzzle, with the answer "Frozen Orange Juice," which cost her $40,000.
McWhorter got off to a rough start as her rival, Smith, took the early lead in the Toss Up rounds. However, she made a strong comeback in the Express Round where she cracked the prize puzzle to win an exotic Trafalgar tour of Costa Rica worth $9,176, according to Andy Nguyen's blog.
During the Triple Toss Up, it seemed like another contestant, Voloshyn, was set to overtake McWhorter and win. However, he made a blunder in the very last puzzle after failing to call a consonant, which eventually allowed McWhorted to win a total of $14,176 in cash.
Advancing to the Bonus Round, McWhorter chose the category "Food & Drink" for her final puzzle and joined the host, Ryan Seacrest, at the wheel. Before spinning the wheel, she brought along her husband of 16 years, named Marshall, to the stage for support. After picking out her Golden Envelope, she was faced with a three-word puzzle on the board. With the show's standard letters, "R, S, T, L, N, E, " filled in, she chose "M, C, D, and O" as her additional letters. With everything filled in, the puzzle read, "_ R O _ E N O R _ N _ E _ _ _ C E."
After Seacrest started the ten-second timer, it seemed like McWhorter had only one-third of the puzzle figured out. With the clock ticking, she yelled out guesses like, "Orange, ground; Orange brown," but none of them were correct. Co-host Vanna White then uncovered the answer, and Seacrest went on to add to the heartbreak by revealing that she had lost out on taking home an additional $40,000, which would have brought her total to $54,176.
Despite the big loss, McWhorter took it with a smile and gave Seacrest a big hug. However, fans weren't that positive about the loss as they felt the puzzle was solvable. "This is easy to solve," wrote one fan, @mother-is-pink, in the comments on YouTube. "Brutal," added @justinhall9231.
However, some fans sympathized with the player too. "I got orange juice instantly, but ngl I've never heard of FROZEN orange juice, so maybe she was caught on that," explained @StormyDevRBLX.
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