After a recent episode of “Wheel of Fortune,” fans are rallying behind a contestant and expressing their frustration with a controversial game rule.
On Wednesday’s episode, David Peterson got tripped up during the “crossword puzzle” portion of the game.
The crossword, which was introduced in 2016, typically consists of four words.
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Contestants are asked to solve the puzzle word-for-word without adding any additional words incuding the common conjunction “and.”
Prior to solving the puzzle, host Pat Sajak reminded players not to add anything while solving.
However, since it’s natural for most people to include the conjunction into everyday speech, the puzzle has gotten the best of some contestants, Pederson included.
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When it was his turn to solve, he said: "Sole, Flounder, Cod and Catfish.”
Despite guessing the correct words, Pederson was disqualified due to the technicality.
At that point, Sajak had to break the bad news to him.
"No, sorry. That's not right," he explained as another contestant solved the puzzle without using “and.”
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Fans immediately took to social media to call out the tricky and misleading rule.
“They need to fix that freakin' "and" rule for #WheelOfFortune crossword puzzles. Come on,” one user wrote on Twitter.
“There’s nothing colder than @WheelofFortune dinging folks for adding the “and” when solving crossword puzzles,” another noted.
However, many viewers pointed out that “rules are rules” for a reason and explained that Pederson disregarded Sajak’s very obvious warning.
Pederson isn’t the game shows first victim.
In November 2019, Kristen Shaw made the same mistake. The minor flub cost her $1,950 and a trip to Nashville valued at over $8,000.
Despite the gaffe, Pederson still ended up walking away with $1,000!
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