'Wheel of Fortune' fans blame unusual puzzle that left a contestant lose out on $40,000

"Wheel of Fortune" fans were frustrated about contestants losing out in the bonus round because of impossible puzzles. More recently, they were upset when scales were tilted by a Bonus Round puzzle cost a veteran firefighter $40,000. During the show's 'Bragging Rights' week, where friends and colleagues were competing against each other, Darring Gallagher emerged victorious to advance to the finale. While he proved his mettle in the initial rounds, in the end, he was stumped by the unusual puzzle, "Taking a Whiff." While the player admitted it was too tough for him, the fans didn't mince their words to blast the show on social media.

Gallagher played against his fellow firefighters, Melissa “Missy” Porter, from Johnston, and Tim Stebenne, from Lincoln. After a slow start, Gallagher took the lead in the "Express Round" and solved the prize puzzle to win a trip to Panama.

He went on to ace a few more puzzles in the "Triple Toss Up" round and added another $10,000 to his total. In the end, Gallagher emerged as the night’s big winner with $20,150 in cash and the exotic trip to advance to the Bonus Round. After choosing the category, "What are you doing?" he joined host Ryan Seacrest to spin the wheel while his colleagues stood behind him on the podium at the second and third place. 

After picking out his prize envelope, he was faced with a three-word puzzle. With the show's standard letters, "R, S, T, L, N, E," filled in, Gallagher went on to choose "K, D, G, and A" as his additional letters. However, his letter picks only got a couple more clues on the board as the puzzle read, "TAK_NG      A     _ _ _ _ _," with an entire word missing. 

As Seacrest kicked off the ten-second timer, Gallagher tried his best to work out the solution. While he got the first part of the puzzle right, he was a total miss for the last word. He could only say, "Taking a.." before the time ran out. "Taking a cue could go a lot of different places," Seacrest said before revealing the answer, "Taking a Whiff". To this, the contestant immediately said, "I would not have gotten that. Maybe if I got an F, maybe I don't know." To add to the heartbreak, Seacrest went on to show that Gallagher lost out on winning an additional $40,000.

When the YouTube clip of the Bonus Round puzzle was shared, fans were quick to blast the show. "That was a hard one, surprisingly. I knew the first parts were “Taking A” without the letter selection, but that last word was odd because there was no T or R. I’ve heard of Take A Whiff, but not Taking A Whiff," wrote @lunamelody2025. "Boy, that was a tough puzzle, taking a Whiff, really, really? What is that puzzle? That one was a horrible bonus round puzzle," @jacobwilson6192.

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