‘Wheel of Fortune’ Audience Boos ‘Unfair’ Puzzle As Contestant Misses Million Dollar Jackpot

Audience members at the taping of the May 22 edition of Wheel of Fortune were openly disappointed with finalist Paul Dodson who lost big to a devilishly difficult puzzle. They outright booed when Dodson couldn’t complete the puzzle and the answer turned out to be a nearly impossible word to guess in the “What are you doing?”

At this point in the game, a million dollar jackpot was up for grabs.

With the usual accompanied R, S, T, L, N and E, the puzzle board read: “_ _ _ _ _ L _ N _. » Dodson guessed the letters C, H, P and A, none of which appeared on the board.

The final answer turned out to be “Chicaner”, to which the audience first gasped, then started booing. (Aptly, the definition of quibbling is “to argue or raise objection over a trivial matter” according to Oxford Languages.)

Dodson, alongside host Pat Sajak, encouraged the audience to boo louder, using his arms to encourage them to increase the volume, before laughing jokingly shortly after.

Sajak, however, did not find the uproar funny.

The often sassy host turned to the audience and said bluntly: “Who asked you?

The audience laughed and applauded the host.

Sajak then presented the card Dodson had chosen for his final round, revealing that Dodson had lost an Infiniti car. The veteran host also pointed out where the million dollar card was, not too far from Dodson’s pick.

Dodson, a married father of two from Aurora, Ohio, had raised $33,550 against opponents Venetia Brown of Tobyhanna, Pennsylvania and Jessica Huffman of Moore, Oklahoma. Huffman finished second with $7,550. Brown finished third with $2,000.

For his final round category, Dodson chose “What are you doing?” on “Thing” and “Phrase”.

Fans took to the game show’s social media pages to echo the upset felt by the audience in person, saying “quibble” was too difficult a word for anyone to guess.

“I have to agree with the audience there,” one fan wrote. “It was terrible.”

“Evil Bonus Round Puzzle!” »wrote another. “Wrong!”

“This was unfair beyond belief,” expressed one fan. “They are right to boo.”

What did you think of Dodson’s latest puzzle? Let us know in the comments section below.

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