'Wheel of Fortune' fans are convinced the puzzle looked really 'tricky' as player loses out on a car

"Wheel of Fortune" contestants missing out on big prizes even after playing well throughout the episodes has become a cause for frustration among fans. They witnessed yet another disappointment caused by a tricky puzzle when a contestant named Rob Schwandt lost out on a brand new Toyota car. Despite the bonus round loss, the player still walked away with prizes worth over $30,000, and fans were divided on his performance in the finale.

Schwandt was off to a rough start, as his competitor, Hundall, got the first Toss Up puzzle to take the early lead, and went on to stretch his lead with $11,200.

However, Schwandt made a strong comeback in the Express Round, where he cracked the puzzle to win a trip to Spain. With this, he put $18,598 in the bank and went on to add $10,000 more in the Triple Toss Up round by almost pulling off a clean sweep. In the end, Schwandt emerged as the big winner of the night with a total of $30,298 and the trip. 

Advancing to the Bonus Round, Schwandt chose the category "Person" for the final puzzle. He joined host Ryan Seacrest at the wheel and brought along his mom Beth, wife Rebecca, and kids Phoebe and Robby, who got a compliment from Seacrest for his cap. After spinning the wheel, Schwandt faced a long two-word puzzle.

With the show's standard letters "R, S, T, L, N, E," filled in, the player went on to choose “H, M, C, and, A," as his additional letters. While his picks gave him some clues, it still looked tough as his puzzle read “_ _S_ _NAR_ _ _LMMA_ER.”

As Seacrest kicked off the ten-second timer, Schwandt looked stumped. While he correctly guessed the first word, which was “Visionary," he was at a loss for the second word. "Not commander. Mayor?” was all the player could say before the time ran out. Co-host Vanna White then revealed the answer “Visionary Filmmaker.” "You did the best you could," Seacrest said before showing the player that he lost out on taking home a brand new 2025 Tacoma SR5 Double Cab.

Seacrest consoled the player by telling him that he was still taking home a lot of money, and Schwandt seemed to be doing okay as well. However, the fans were not sure about the puzzle, and they took to the comments section on YouTube to share their opinion. One fan, @nathanieljourat6723, called the puzzle tough, saying, "Good effort on the puzzle. It looked tricky." "Yeah, those compound words can be tricky - but what else can it be, especially after the Ms came up? Anyway, congrats Rob!" added @scottleung9587.

Some disagreed and felt that the puzzle wasn't that hard to solve. "Pretty easy bonus round puzzle, especially the "M" was the right letter to pick and that gave it to me since I figure it was a compound word on the bottom, but how did Bob miss out on Filmmaker when he pick the 'M,' which it was the right letter to pick?" wrote @jacobwilson6192.

You can watch the action unfold here.

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