‘Wheel of Fortune’ Fans Bash ‘Worst Played Episode’ as Contestant Loses $67,000

Brain Games – ‘Wheel of Fortune’ Word Puzzles

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Wheel of Fortune fans were yelling at their TVs on Wednesday night. A contestant wound up losing $67,000 in what fans deemed the “worst played episode so far.”

David Charles, from St. Louis, Missouri, played against Emily Foote, from Palestine, Texas, and Susan Stein, from Skokie, Illinois, on September 30. Charles, a hat-wearing, photo-taking, and forest-park-running man, solved three Fortune Frenzys, while Foote, a principal for Palestine ISD, solved one.

Charles solved most of the first puzzle before landing on Bankrupt. The other two contestants also landed on Bankrupt, so the turn moved back to him. With three letters left, Charles solved “Doing Flips on a Trampoline.” This gave him $4,000.

The next puzzle took a while to solve because the contestants kept saying a word that wasn’t in the “Where on Earth?” puzzle. When the turn went back to Foote, she correctly solved “Sahara, Mojave, and Gobi” without saying “Desert” after it. She put $2,850 in her bank.

Charles solved “Ideal Spot for Nature Lovers” after Stein, a woman who likes to stay fit by swimming, had solved most of it, but landed on Bankrupt. Charles won a trip to Peru, which gave him $14,098.

He solved two of the three Triple Toss-ups while Foote solved the third one. Charles solved the final puzzle — “Nourish and Flourish” — giving him a final total of $22,898.

Wheel of Fortune gave Stein $1,000. Foote went home with $4,850. Charles chose “Phrase” for his Bonus Round category.

The game show gave him “R,S,T,L,N, and E.” Charles rounded out his puzzle with “D,M,H, and O.” The puzzle looked like “_ _ _ _ _  TO  _ _D_E.”

As the clock counted down, Charles guessed “Carry to Bridge,” “Badge,” “Wedge to Badge,” and “Fudge to Budge.” It was “Quick to Judge.”

“That was a difficult one with not too many letters up there,” host Ryan Seacrest said. There was $45,000 in the envelope, which would have given him $67,898.

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Fans reacted to the game on Reddit. “I fear this is one of the worst played episodes so far haha,” one said.

“The man who won the game seemed like a good guy. The other two contestants seemed a little lost,” another commented.

“I had to remind myself that this is Wheel of Fortune and not Jeopardy! during the episode b/c what in the world…,” a third added.

“Another bad final puzzle,” one last fan said.

Wheel of Fortune, weekdays, check local listings, stream next day on Hulu and Peacock