‘Wheel of Fortune’ Player Flubs ‘Easy’ Bonus Puzzle Despite Sign ‘She Knew It’ (VIDEO)

Darian Lusk December 2, 2024, 7:47 pm

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Usually, when a contestant doesn’t know the answer to their Wheel of Fortune bonus puzzle, it’s plain as day because they can’t hide their puzzled facial expression when the timer begins. But in a rare instance last week, a player had viewers convinced she would solve what many dubbed an “easy” bonus puzzle based on her reaction — before proceeding to do anything but.

The swift turn of events occurred on Tuesday, November 26’s episode, and it involved contestant and “big hugger” Katheryn from Arlington, Tennessee. She won the game after racking up $14,176 in cash, a trip to Costa Rica, and barely overtaking opponent Oleh after Ryan Seacrest’s controversial host move of not reminding Oleh to pick a letter. She selected “Food & Drink” as her category.

With her husband of 16 years cheering her on off-sides, Katheryn was faced with a three-word puzzle. She selected an “MDCO” as her additional letters. The puzzle read as, “‘_RO_EN’ ‘ORN_E_’ ‘_ _ _CE.’” Before the 10-second timer started, Katheryn burst into a gigantic grin. Vanna White seemed to take notice, mirroring her confidence with an enthusiastic smile from the puzzle board.

But when the 10-second timer began, Katheryn did not say the answer. “Orange?” she uttered, knowing the middle word. “Brown, ground?” she guessed trying to sound out what the first word could be. White’s smile faded and the timer ran out, making for a jarring juxtaposition to how things started out.

The puzzle filled in and Seacrest assured her, “You were onto something with ‘Orange,’.” The puzzle was displayed in full to be, “FROZEN ORANGE JUICE.” The audience moaned and Katheryn exclaimed, “Juice!” upon the realization of the third word, it becoming abundantly clear she actually only knew the middle one all along.

The game show shared the big miss on YouTube, where many fans shared they got the answer instantly and others thought she had done the same based on how she was smiling.

“How could she not get it?!” the top comment read.

“Idk she was smiling like she knew it but didn’t I guess,” wrote another.

“This is easy solve…” wrote a third.

“Her smiling made me think she was going to get it but apparently not,” agreed a fourth.

“I got orange juice instantly but ngl i’ve never heard of FROZEN orange juice so maybe she was caught on that,” wrote a fifth.

“Got this off the RSTLNE. Doesn’t happen very often for me,” flexed a sixth.

“I’m sorry Kathryn, you are walking away with $14,176. Congratulations!” one more surmised.

Meanwhile, Seacrest replaced the legendary Pat Sajak after four decades for Season 42. His debut month was the strongest ratings month for WoF in the past three years, and viewers were already scored a viral moment (via a round of sausage). That said, another shocking occurrence came to light after the miss, which was that Katheryn wound up being the first out of four bonus round losses last week.

'Wheel of Fortune' Fans Demand Change After 'Crazy' Bonus Puzzle Pattern

After the staggering 1/5 bonus round week on Friday, the least successful for Seacrest as host so far, fans took to another YouTube comments section wondering what was happening. Many blamed the “tough” puzzles while others urged the producers to pick stronger contestants (admitting pressure plays a part).

“Here we go again! Yet another bad week of Wheel of Fortune,” one fan wrote under the clip of Friday’s miss.

“What is wrong with the contestant pool this week? 4 blown Bonus Rounds in a row on easy puzzles for the minimum!” wrote a second.

“This is crazy that these puzzles are not being solved,” a third wrote.