The popular game show, Wheel of Fortune has been generating a lot of media attention lately, largely due to host Pat Sajak’s behavior, which has made news yet again. Only a day after a video of him tackling a contestant on stage went viral, Pat Sajak was again caught on camera shouting at a contestant to solve a puzzle during a Wednesday episode of the show.
The contestant, Nicole who hails from Peachtree, Georgia, announced her intention to solve a puzzle, “Oh! I’m going to solve it,” she said. However, it seems Sajak ran out of patience as he responded with a yell, “Please, solve the darn puzzle!”
Pat Sajak subtly shades the ‘Wheel of Fortune’ contestant
In the episode, the contestant had already made several successful letter guesses, and the host gave a nod that she is on the right path and hinting that there might not be a need to spin the wheel again. “Looks pretty good to me,” Sajak said.
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However, the puzzle in the “Same Name” category still had four missing letters and despite the remark from the host, Nicole opted to spin again and chose the letter ‘P’ and then managed to narrow the puzzle down to just two missing letters after guessing ‘Y.’ Finally, after making a few more successful letter guesses, the contestant was able to correctly solve the puzzle and shouted out, “Coconut and cough syrup!” before letting out a sigh of relief.
Unsurprisingly, Pat Sajak teased Nicole that she could not solve a puzzle that was so easy to get. “It’s a horrible moment when you know that ‘everyone in America knows what this is, why don’t I?’ But you got it,” he said. “We appreciate that you pretended you didn’t know ’til the end, you increased the drama and that was great.”
Despite earning more money, Nicole was unable to beat contestant Cory, who was ultimately declared the winner of the episode.
Pat Sajak has of late been the subject of controversy
In March 2022, Pat faced criticism for his treatment of contestants on a game show after he expressed his disdain for a player’s introduction story about almost losing a big toe, calling it “the most pointless story ever told” and sarcastically congratulated the contestant for sharing it. This behavior raised eyebrows among viewers and garnered negative attention for the Daytime Emmy winner.
Also recently, during the March 21st episode of the show, Pat Sajak playfully tackled a contestant named Fred, a move which earned him a lot of backlash from fans of the game show who took to their social media to express their dissatisfaction.