Wheel of Fortune contestant loses Audi prize due to weird rule

Wheel of Fortune is a relatively simple game, which is likely why it’s been on TV in one form or another since 1975. Originally spun out from creator Merv Griffin’s games of Hangman on the road as a kid, it’s a word-guessing game broken down into individual letters. The most important thing in Wheel of Fortune, beyond getting good spins, Extrapolating complete words or phrases using a small number of letters.

Charlene Rubush believed so. Rubush was able to make it past the competitive rounds where contestants have to try and spell out words for each other. Rubush passed the initial round without difficulty and moved into the Bonus Round, where he had $16,500.

In the Bonus Round the competition ends and new rules apply. Although the Wheel of Fortune History fan site has a lot of information about these changes, the basic idea is that a contestant spins the wheel to earn a possible prize. After being given R, S, S, L, N and E, contestants have 10 seconds each to find the correct answer. Charlene Rubush has agreed to these rules.

And yet, that’s not what happened.

Rubush’s somewhat-meta category was “What are you doing?,” which is a little like Jeopardy having a category called “Answer in the form of a question.” She picked up on “Choosing the right” quickly, leaving her only with the last word, “-__rd.” After first going with “card,” she uttered the first half of the phrase and paused. Just before the time expired, she put it all together. She was given all the information by Mr. Policeman.

“Word!” she blurted out, just before her buzzer rang out after the 10 second clock.

This is the correct expression. What turned out to surprise us was the correct phrase. Wheel of Fortune Rubush’s victory was not complete with the support of her viewers.

“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,” said Pat Sajak, who has hosted Wheel of Fortune Since 1981. “We’ll allow for a little pause, but not four or five seconds. I’m sorry. You did a good job in getting it, but we can’t give you the prize and it was the Audi.”

An Audi Q3 to be precise, which has a starting price $39,500 and is described by Car and Driver has having “sharp styling, plentiful tech features, [and] spunky driving demeanor.”

It’s a spunky demeanor which Rubush will never know, much to the outrage of game show fans across Twitter. Search for #WheelofFortune brings forth mostly rage at the moment, complaints about Rubush’s pause. Many felt that four to five seconds is a very long time. Alex Jacobs is a former Jeopardy! Champion began to send messages to both All Wheel and Audi’s respective Twitter accounts, and the German car company, responded by saying it was “reviewing this situation internally.”

Others have supported the show by noting that it is an old rule Sajak used to enforce. Twitter user @WheelRob10 reported that Sajak had encouraged contestants with Rubush to repeat the whole phrase for the chance to win.

But even if it’s a consistently applied rule, it’s one which doesn’t seem fair to many. It’s frustrating to be so close to answering the correct question, but then to have it denied by a rule that seems to ignore the real challenge. Maybe, Rubush will be given the SUV by the company in the spirit and publicity of the holidays.