Wheel Of Fortune Under Heavy Fire For Confusing Bonus Puzzle, Are Fans Getting Sick Of The Show?
An obscure phrase on a recent Wheel of Fortune episode has fans calling the game show unfair.
A recent Wheel of Fortune puzzle has fans of the gameshow guessing the letters W, T, and F. The New York Post reports that an answer to a bonus puzzle on the Friday edition of Wheel of Fortune has frustrated many people, including the contestant solving the puzzle. Friday’s puzzle “FOUNDING PARTNER” stumped contestant Julie from Texas, costing her $40,000 and raising the ire of fans.
The backlash was immediate as people took to social media to express their anger at what many felt was an unfair puzzle. One fan wrote, “Founding partner is not a thing: founding fathers YES. Such BS.” Another fan accused the Wheel of Fortune writers of phoning it in.
While fans were quick to claim, as one put it, “They’re just making up stuff now,” the phrase is indeed a real thing. In layman’s terms, a founding partner is a person (or persons) that own a company before another company buys it as part of a merger. However, one fan pointed out that “founding partner” is a “business term” and not something a non-business owner would typically know.
It would be akin to Wheel of Fortune using an obscure Star Wars character like Elan Sleazebaggano (yes, that’s a real character) as a puzzle. The average person isn’t going to know the name of the death stick dealer from Attack of the Clones any more than they know what a founding partner is.
This isn’t the first time this year Wheel of Fortune had a puzzle that fans disagreed with. In the January 26 episode, a contestant pointed out that “Taking a quick jog” did not belong in the category Fun & Games as jogging is virtually no one’s idea of fun. Fans again supported the contestant over host Pat Sajak.
Fans were quick to poke fun at the host using the word “unclose” to describe the contestant’s initial guess. More recently, Sajak spent a whole episode teasing a contestant over her ichthyophobia (fear of fish). With all these questionable shenanigans, are fans getting sick of Wheel of Fortune?
The answer is no. Not if the show’s ratings are any indication. Wheel of Fortune and fellow game show Jeopardy! regularly dominate syndication.
The percentage of people watching broadcast television may have shrunk significantly in the age of streaming, but the people who still watch TV watch Wheel of Fortune. Wheel of Fortune fans are just like all the other fandoms out there, complaining about what they love while still watching it. But for how much longer?
Both Vanna White and Pat Sajak have spoken vaguely about retiring at some point. When that happens, it’s unclear if CBS Media Ventures will continue the show with a different set of hosts, ala Jeopardy! or retire Wheel of Fortune altogether. Even less certain is whether fans will even accept someone else turning the letters and making fun of contestants’ phobias.
