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Wheel of Fortune fans blast ‘harsh’ judgment for denying contestant’s ‘weird’ pronunciation

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Wheel of Fortune viewers are debating whether a contestant’s pronunciation should have cost her a win. Pic credit: ©ImageCollect.com/Byron Purvis/AdMedia

Wheel of Fortune viewers believe the show’s judges made a wrong call that resulted in a contestant’s loss.

During the February 3 episode of Wheel of Fortune, a contestant named Arzice Salonga from Medina, Ohio, mispronounced a puzzle solution, costing her a win.

The former Philadelphia Eagles cheerleader tried her hand at a toss-up puzzle in the “Event” category.

When left with a puzzle that read, “A F _ I _ _ N / _ A _ A _ _,” Arzice answered correctly, delivering the answer, “African Safari.”

However, her pronunciation was not the generally accepted one, and judges ruled her response incorrect since she pronounced it like “sa-ferry.”

Arzice’s opponent, Brian Nelson, buzzed in, providing the correct pronunciation and earning himself the win.

After the episode, Wheel watchers took to social media, where they sounded off.

The consensus was that Arzice was robbed and should have been awarded the win despite her incorrect pronunciation.

Wheel of Fortune viewers call out ‘harsh’ judgment

One such viewer posted on X (formerly Twitter), writing, “#WheelOfFortune Cmon, Wheel of Fortune 🤦🏽‍♀️ judges. I knew what she meant when she said African ‘Safari’ that way.”

In response, another X user added their two cents: “This was a harsh judgment. I’ve heard a lot worse on Wheel that was allowed.”

On Reddit, Wheel of Fortune fans shared similar sentiments.

Redditor u/Layer_Capable created a thread titled, “Really? Variation of pronunciation.”

In the caption, the Redditor started a discussion by asking fellow Wheel watchers, “Tonight a contestant pronounced ‘safari’ as ‘saferry.’ She clearly had the right answer, just pronounced it weird. She lost the solve! What say ye, yay or nay????”

wheel of fortune viewer posts on reddit about Arzice's pronunciation
Pic credit: u/Layer_Capable/Reddit

Wheel of Fortune viewers continue to sound off online: ‘She was robbed’

Another critic called the producer’s call “100 percent bulls**t.”

“She got screwed,” they continued to rant. “I know pronunciations matter but, like…there’s been way worse.”

wheel of fortune fans comment on a reddit post about arzice's pronunciation
Pic credit: u/Layer_Capable/Reddit

Others claimed Arzice was “robbed” and called the Wheel of Fortune judges’ move “cheap.”

“I didn’t think they were so fussy on pronunciation,” added another disgruntled commenter.

Were the judges correct in ruling Arzice’s answer incorrect?

This wasn’t the first time a pronunciation quandary has popped up, and it likely won’t be the last.

So, what is the official rule about properly pronouncing puzzle solutions? TODAY got clarification several years back when a similar circumstance occurred on air.

In 2014, a contestant pronounced the word “Achilles” as “A-chill-us.”

The predicament stumped Wheel of Fortune fans, but the Wheel of Fortune host at the time, Pat Sajak, explained, “When it comes to names … even though the letters are up there because you have to solve it — which is what you did — you have to say it, and (Shelby) said it.”

To further clarify the matter, a spokesperson for Wheel of Fortune relayed their own explanation to TODAY.

“One of the rules of Wheel of Fortune is when a contestant tries to solve a puzzle, they must pronounce it using the generally accepted pronunciation,” the statement read.

So, in this instance, according to Wheel of Fortune’s rules (from 2014 at least), judges were correct to deny Arzice a puzzle win.

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