Pat Sajak almost touched a 'Wheel of Fortune' contestant's face making her visibly uncomfortable

In the more than 40 years that Pat Sajak led "Wheel of Fortune," he was known to be a friendly, fun, and respectful host. But since he was around for a long time, Sajak also had his fair share of controversial moments. One such incident was witnessed back in 2023 when Sajak took a joke too far and overstepped into a contestant's personal space.

The unfortunate contestant was Jen, a resident of Florida who appeared on the show. As usual, Sajak was introducing the players when Jen revealed that she is a proud aunt with seven God-children and is happily married. However, the host was more interested in one particular detail that Jen mentioned in her application for the show. “Let’s talk about your eyelash," he said to the player in the middle of her intro.

Jen responded by saying, “So I don’t know why this is occurring, but I have a recurring grey eyelash that has followed me throughout my life. And I just think I’m gonna name it and keep it forever.”

While it was just a strange but minor thing to share, Sajak nearly made a big deal out of it. “It’s a grey eyelash?” he asked, and after Jen confirmed, he went up to Jen at the podium and extended his hand towards the player's face. With his hands just inches away from her eyes, Sajak asked “Is it there? Wait a minute hold on." He then made a plucking motion suggesting that he had just solved the grey eyelash problem for the contestant. 

While the crowd nervously laughed at the host's joke, Jen said, “Thanks so much.” Pat wasn't done with his act as he responded with “Feeling better?" Jen too played along saying, it was a “little painful,” but she felt A-okay. You can watch the video here.

It tuned out to be the only 'hairy moment' for Jen in the show as she went on to dominate all the rounds to beat fellow contestants Ani and Scot, according to The US Sun. Going into the Bonus Round, Jen had collected more than $13,000 in prize money. Unfortunately, the final puzzle of the show turned out to be too tough for her to solve and she lost out on an extra $50,000. This wasn't the first time that Sajak faced backlash over his treatment of contestants. While Jen's encounter with the host seemed awkward, in one instance, Sajak was called out for being outright rude.

In the episode, a contestant named Angela was excited after solving a puzzle and overwhelmed as she had won over $11,000. However, when Sajak went up to her at the podium, he didn't seem to share the same excitement. 

As seen in the YouTube clip Sajak appeared a little annoyed at Angela's loud celebrations. Eventually, before moving on to the next player, Sajak abruptly yelled, "Shut Up" looking at the player. While he brushed it off as a joke by laughing, viewers took offense.

Taking to X (formerly Twitter) fans complained that Sajak was out of line. "I don't watch @WheelofFortune very often but Pat Sajak didn't seem very happy this nice woman just won. She was excited and he told her to shut up????" @reidrosenthal1 wrote.

However, many genuinely believed that Sajak was only joking and he didn't really mean to offend anyone.