Wheel of Fortune game show host Pat Sajak rushed to defend the three players from Tuesday night’s episode who have received a lot of ridicule when it took them a long time to solve what was a fairly obvious puzzle.
Pat, 75, went on Twitter on March 2 and posted his thoughts on the episode and people’s reactions, encouraging followers and viewers to “have a little heart.”
What happened on Wheel of Fortune?
On Tuesday night’s episode of Wheel of Fortune, the three contestants — Christopher Coleman, Laura Machado, and Thomas Lipscomb — struggled to guess the correct answer to the phrase “Another feather _n yo_r _a_.”
The correct answer is “Another feather in your cap.” While the answer seemed obvious to the audience and viewers at home, Christopher, Laura, and Thomas all struggled to solve the puzzle correctly.
When it was Christopher’s turn, he missed his chance, guessing two of the missing letters as “g” and “d.” He also landed on Bankrupt on his last spin.
Laura kept trying to solve the puzzle. Her incorrect guesses included, “Another feather in your hat,” and “Another feather in your lap.”
“No,” Pat answered. “Oh, the feather is moving around,” he added.
On her next turn, Laura decided to spin the wheel and guessed one of the missing letters correctly with “p.” Then she attempted to guess the puzzle as, “Another feather in your map.”
Thomas, meanwhile, landed on both Bankrupt and Lose a Turn during his spins. The third time was the charm for him, though, as he finally guessed the letter “c” and solved the puzzle.
Fans had a field day over the trio’s incorrect guesses and mocked them for not being able to solve what seemed to be a simple puzzle.
“America’s best and brightest were not in attendance at last night’s Wheel of Fortune,” tweeted Know Your Meme.
Frozen star Josh Gad simply tweeted, “God help us all.”
Pat defends the three contestants, encourages kindness and compassion
On March 2, Pat hopped on his Twitter account and posted several thoughts on Tuesday’s episode and the contestants.
“It always pains me when nice people come on our show to play a game and win some money and maybe fulfill a lifelong dream, and are then subject to online ridicule when they make a mistake or something goes awry,” Pat began.
He continued, “The first attempted solve was ‘Feather in your hat’ which, by the way, is how a lot of people say it. So all three players thought it was a good solve, and were stunned when I said it was wrong.”
Sajak expanded on his thoughts in a Twitter thread defending the players, and reminding online hecklers that they have no idea what it’s like when you’re in the studio and on the spot.
“But mocking them online and calling them names? These are good people in a bad situation under a kind of stress that you can’t begin to appreciate from the comfort of your couch.”
Wheel of Fortune airs weeknights at 7:30 p.m. on ABC.