'Wheel of Fortune' fans confused by tough puzzle that cost a contestant $55,000 in bonus round

Fans expressed that they too were stumped by the unusually tough puzzle.

PUBLISHED NOV 5, 2025

Screenshot showing Jessi Perri attempting her Bonus Round puzzle (Cover image source: YouTube/Wheel of Fortune)

"Wheel of Fortune" fans have seen a lot of disappointing losses in the bonus round, and it just keeps getting more devastating. They were heartbroken again when a tough puzzle cost a contestant a $94,000 win, after she got another unpleasant surprise from her mother on the set. The player, Jess Perri, who won a whopping $39,000 to make it to the finale, was shocked to see her mother come to the stage with a cast around her arm. Before she could find out what had happened, the show gave her a 'raw deal' with the puzzle, "Avid Hikers," which she failed to crack. While the player went out with happy cheers, fans took to social media to call out the unusually difficult Bonus Round puzzle.

Screenshot showing the moment of loss (Image source: YouTube/Wheel of Fortune)

She got off to a flying start after solving both the Toss-Up puzzles to take the early lead. Hassell finally got on the board by solving the puzzles in the next round and landed on the Million Dollar Wedge as well. Going into the Express Round, Perri solved the prize puzzle to win a trip to Amelia Island, Florida. In the Triple Toss Up round, Perri executed a perfect sweep by getting all three puzzles, and she got the final puzzle in the Speed Up round as well to emerge as the big winner of the night with $39,000.

Screenshot showing Perri at the wheel alongside Seacrest (Image source: YouTube/Wheel of Fortune)

Advancing to the Bonus Round, she chose the category, "People," and joined host Ryan Seacrest at the wheel. She brought along her mother to the stage for support, who showed up with a surprise. After Perri shared that her mother celebrated her birthday a day before, Seacrest said, "Happy birthday! But, she’s got a cast on. You [Perri] don't know what happened because it just happened." Perri admitted that she had no idea, and her mother remarked, "It's a surprise."

Screenshot showing Perri's mother on stage (Image source: YouTube/Wheel of Fortune)

After picking out her Golden Envelope, Perri was faced with a short two-word puzzle. With the show's standard letters, "R, S, T, L, N, E," on the board, Perri chose “M, C, D, and O” as her additional letters. She got another unpleasant surprise after her letters produced almost no clues, as the puzzle read, “_ _ _D _ _ _ERS.” After Seacrest kicked off the ten-second timer, Perri for a second thought she had the win in the bag as she guessed, "Book Lovers," which wasn't correct. She then went on to fire a few more guesses like "Food Lovers," "Quad Lovers," "Book Lovers," "Wood Lovers," and more, but none of them were correct. After her time ran out, co-host Vanna White uncovered the correct answer, "Avid Lovers."

Screenshot showing the puzzle (Image source: YouTube/Wheel of Fortune)

Adding to the heartbreak, Seacrest went on to reveal that Perri lost out on taking home an additional $55,000, which would have taken her total to $94,000. Despite the loss, Peri let out a 'Good Scream' to celebrate her night. However, fans weren't as happy as she was. "Really, Avid Hikers, what is that all about?" wrote one fan, @jacobwilson6192, in the comments of the show's YouTube clip. "I never even heard about avid hikers before," added @yasmineghadiri8976.