- A Wheel of Fortune fail went viral this week
- Contestants couldn't solve a seemingly easy puzzle
- Pat Sajak is defending them after mean comments
Wheel of Fortune went viral this week when contestants failed to solve a puzzle that many felt was a piece of cake. The phrase was "Another feather in your cap."
At one point the clue was down to "Another feather in yo_r _ap." But the contestants were baffled after an early guess of "Another feather in your hat" was rejected. "Bag" and "lap" were other guesses for the last word.
Pat Sajak reacts after Wheel of Fortune fail goes viral
The fail went viral, but host Pat Sajak, 75, had an emotional response to it all. He felt the massive online reaction was too mean-spirited. In a lengthy Twitter response, he wrote:
"It always pains me when nice people come on our show to play a game and win some money and maybe fulfill a lifelong dream, and are then subject to online ridicule when they make a mistake or something goes awry."
Sajak continued: "Last night's 'Feather in your cap' puzzle was a case in point. Sitting at home, it seems incredible that they couldn't solve it, but I knew in real time what was happening.
"The first attempted solve was 'Feather in your hat' which, by the way, is how a lot of people say it. So all three players thought it was a good solve, and were stunned when I said it was wrong."
The longtime Wheel of Fortune host then tried to get bullies to put themselves in the contestants' shoes. "Now imagine you're on national TV, and you're suddenly thrown a curve and you begin getting worried about looking stupid," he wrote, "and if the feather isn't in your hat, where the heck can it be? You start flailing away looking for alternatives rather than synonyms for 'hat.'
"And, of course, when it's solved, you want to crawl in a hole." Sajak wrote that he would never make fun of players, and his goal is to "help to get them through it and convince them that those things happen even to very bright people."
Getting a bit upset, Sajak continued: "But mocking them online and calling them names? These are good people in a bad situation under a kind of stress that you can't begin to appreciate from the comfort of your couch."
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Making his point clear, the veteran host wrote: "I have fun with players and I tease them occasionally, but when things go wrong, I feel for them, and I try to salve the wounds on camera and off.
"So, yeah, it was an oddly entertaining puzzle and it’s okay to laugh at the situation. But have a little heart." He concluded: "After all, you may be there one day. And no one wants to be trending on Twitter."
So Pat Sajak sure made his feelings clear on the "feather" fail. Recently, the Wheel of Fortune host also shared a rare family update on his popular game show.
