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Audi Steps Up To Award 'Wheel Of Fortune' Contestant A New Car After She Lost On A Technicality

Audi Steps Up To Award 'Wheel Of Fortune' Contestant A New Car After She Lost On A Technicality
Wheel of Fortune/CBS
John Curtis
By John CurtisDec 27, 2021
John Curtis
A novelist, picture book writer and native New Yorker, John is a graduate of Syracuse University and the children's media graduate program at Centennial College. When not staring at his computer monitor, you'll most likely find John sipping tea watching British comedies, or in the kitchen, taking a stab at the technical challenge on the most recent episode of 'The Great British Baking Show'.
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There was a silver lining through the storm of outrage after Wheel of Fortune contestant Charlene Rubush lost a new car due to a technicality.

Rubush made it to the bonus round to guess a phrase from the category "what are you doing?"

With only three missing letters in the phrase, Rubush first incorrectly guessed "choosing the right card", but then, just ahead of the buzzer, she was able to guess the correct phrase "choosing the right word".

However, her victory proved to be short-lived.

Despite literally "choosing the right word", she allowed seven seconds to elapse between her two guesses, thus disqualifying her, as host Pat Sajak explained.

"This one’s tough because you said all the right words, including the word ‘word’ but as you know, it’s got to be more or less continuous."
"We’ll allow for a little pause but not four or five seconds."

Adding insult to injury was the prize Rubush was deprived of was a brand new Audi Q3.

Former Jeopardy! Tournament of Champions winner Alex Jacob was outraged by Wheel of Fortune's ruling, openly expressing his anger on Twitter.

Jacob wasn't the only one infuriated by the game show's decision.

Twitter blew up with outraged fans, with some even threatening to boycott the show.





Audi apparently agreed with Wheel of Fortune 's outraged fans, expressing their desire to reward Rubush with the car they believed she rightfully won.

And indeed, Audi later tweeted thanks to a little help from their Twitter followers, they were able to track down Rubush and give her the good news.

A representative for Audi also confirmed Rubush would indeed be getting the car as a Christmas present in a statement to Newsweek.

"[We] saw Charlene's Wheel of Fortune episode on Monday and were collectively disappointed that she missed out on the opportunity to take home an Audi Q3 due to a technicality. "
"So in the spirit of the holidays, Audi of America will be gifting her with an all-new Audi Q3."

Rubush's supporters were overjoyed by Audi's generosity in giving her the car.







Frustrating as the experience must have been for Rubush in the moment, one imagines she'll soon forget the whole thing behind the wheel of her brand new Audi Q3.

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