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Long-running game show Wheel of Fortune has become infamous over the years for its contestants gleefully submitting wildly incorrect solutions to obvious puzzles.
But a recent contestant ignited an uproar for a whole new reason—giving the wrong solution but winning anyway.
As several angry fans of the show pointed out on Twitter, contestant Steven Page incorrectly rendered the puzzle's solution, "quality craftsmanship" as "quality craft-manship"--without the 's'--but was given the win anyway.
And they're not having it.
@WheelofFortune @patsajak Steven did NOT solve puzzle correctly — he said “Craftmanship" leaving out the first “s." Mike Richards still in credits. I thought he was done w/ both shows. Sony needs to invite back Christina and Lisa. @Christo94851699pic.twitter.com/Rn0Dq0Zn2d
— Richard B (@zani1957) November 19, 2021
Page's solving of the puzzle was no simple error--it made him $9,000 and allowed him to narrowly defeat fellow contestant Christina Maril and move on to the next round. Fans are angry about the error, which had it been caught, would have likely resulted in a win for either Maril or third contestant Lisa Volivitch.
Fans of Wheel of Fortune have long bemoaned the show's hyper-stringent rules, like its infamous "and rule" that counts an answer as a loss if the contestant says the word "and" while relaying a list of words in a puzzle. The rule comes into play during the game show's crossword-type puzzles, in which the solution is a list of terms in a common theme.
Contestant David Pedersen ran afoul of the rule earlier this year by answering a fish-related crossword puzzle with "Sole, Flounder, Cod and Catfish." Since the word "and" was not part of the puzzle, Pedersen lost the round, sparking an uproar among the show's fans.
Given that oddly stringent rule, it seems like incorrectly pronouncing a word as Page did would similarly result in disqualification. But Page was allowed to advance further in the game despite his error--and he ended up finishing the game as the day's champion as a result.
On Twitter, this angered many diehard fans of the iconic game show, who felt the show's rules were unfairly inconsistent.
@wheeloffortune just cheated a lady out of a spot in the bonus round by counting as correct a mispronounced answer. If you can't add an "and" to a crossword, you can't pronounce it wrong and get credit. #WheelOfFortune
— Leo Colston (@DmbColston) November 19, 2021
#WheelOfFortune why was Steven's response on “Quality Craftsmanship" rules correct tonight?? He said “quality craftmanship"—without the “S"! That's incorrect! Lisa deserves another $9k, as she would have got that on the next turn.
— Bill V (@BillVerkuilen) November 19, 2021
Did anyone else notice that Steven didn't pronounce craftsmanship correctly. He said craftmanship, not craftSmanship. He should NOT have won!!
— Christopher Porter (@Christo94851699) November 19, 2021
The man on Wheel of Fortune today shouldn't have won. The last puzzle he said, "Quality craftmanship. He missed the "s" is craftsmanship. You can hear it if you listen closely. He should have gotten the buzz and the lady beside him should have gotten it.
— Some guy on this site (@SomeGuyOnHere99) November 19, 2021
Okay. What happened?
The contestant pronounced it "craftmanship" and it was considered correct? Was it not caught or what? #WheelOfFortune
— BigBroInfo (@BigBro_Info) November 20, 2021
@WOF How did you let this guy win by not saying the "S" on Craftsmanship by saying Craftmanship, but you didn't on this lady where you said she didn't pronounce the letter "G" on Swimming. https://t.co/6bI6xHmlOt vs https://t.co/0fdFV1ROfn ??? Scared I guess. Is he privileged?
— Jeffrey Cold (@JeffreyCold1) November 20, 2021
So what happened on @WheelofFortune Thursday? Someone wasn't doing their job and not listening? Quality Craftmanship (sic)??? I notice @Jeopardy has gotten sloppy since Alex's passing.
— BasiaBAA (@BasiaPsonak) November 19, 2021
Despite their loss, runners up Maril and Volivitch still went home with some money, and said they had a good time on the show. At least there's that!