‘Wheel of Fortune’: Pat Sajak Reacts as Military Vet Misses Out on $40,000

Isaac Rouse November 8, 2023, 12:19 pm

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Wheel of Fortune Veterans Week Pete — ABC

Wheel of Fortune host Pat Sajak, who is a vet himself, clearly relished interviewing each contestant during the Tuesday, November 7, Veterans Week episode of the show.

One contestant, Pete, revealed he had been in the Coast Guard and Air Force for 23 years. Following his backstory of just getting married to his wife and talking about their kids, Pete won a trip to Palm Springs with a $19,300 score, which led to him gaining the opportunity to play the bonus round.

As he chose “Thing” as the puzzle category, the camera cuts to his wife and daughter off-stage. After seeing the given “RSTLNE,” he chose the additional letters “CDPA.”

Following those inclusions, the puzzle looked like: “A _ A_ _LE’ ‘ _ R _,” which Sajak remarked looked like a difficult puzzle to solve. “A couple of A’s, and that is it,” he said.

ABC

He gave Pete ten seconds to “try and talk it out.” The contestant did his best to solve the puzzle, saying “Parallel card,” but to no avail. Pat tried to soften the blow by saying he “would have said the same thing.” But they both would have been wrong, as the answer was actually “Valuable Work,” leaving Pete to shake his head in disbelief.

He lost the bonus round and the $40K reward it would have come with.

Folks online were not happy with the results.

How is “valuable work” a thing? #wheeloffortune,” one X user posted.

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Similarly, during the previous night’s episode of Veteran’s Week on November 6, Air Force vet O.J. lost $40,000 after facing an equally challenging puzzle. After choosing “phrases” as the category for the prize puzzle, he made several thematical guesses, like “Home to the proud, Home of the proud, Home IN the proud,” however, he too lost, unable to guess “Hype up the crowd.”

“Wheel of fortune. Phrase. Hype up the crowd. Really?” another X user noted.

What do you think of the week’s bonus questions on Wheel of Fortune?

Check out the reactions below and share your thoughts in the comments.

@WheelofFortune who in the heck picks “THING”? I guess Pete who just lost. “THING” is too broad!

— MilitaryWifey (@1MilitaryWifey1) November 8, 2023

@WheelofFortune “Hype Up The Crowd” was a HORRIBLE puzzle for Veteran’s Week. Shame on WoF!

— Linda Gail (@borninKeyWest) November 7, 2023

@WheelofFortune valuable work is not a thing!

— Robert Beck (@robbeck67) November 8, 2023

@WheelofFortune Nobody has EVER said Valuable Work. Ever. Crooked ass Wheel of Dread. You suck. WHEEL OF FORTUNE is a fucking joke.

— Average Day (@terrysocia) November 8, 2023

How is “valuable work” a thing? #wheeloffortune

— Paulie Elker (@pjelker86) November 8, 2023

Watching the end tonight really sucked @WheelofFortune…Home of the Proud would have been more in tune with what’s going on right now. Never heard anybody say lets Hype up the Croud. Please show us a video of anybody saying let’s Hype up the Crowd. That’s bullshit..USAUSA

— grek-hardt (@Swooshie69) November 7, 2023