Wheel of Fortune - Puzzle Controversy

[DialgaChampion]

I want to bring up a topic that has probably been brought up and discussed before, but it just seems a bit unfair in my opinion.

When solving a puzzle on Wheel of Fortune, there seems to be an issue with the game's rules when it comes to speaking the answer out loud.

Let me give you an example...

In tonight's episode, there was a puzzle where the answer was "Floppy Wide-Brim Hat".

The first contestant who said that she wanted to solve the puzzle, spoke out loud, "a Floppy Wide-Brim Hat". Pat stated that she was incorrect.

The second contestant tried to solve the puzzle by stating simply "Floppy Wide-Brim Hat". They accepted her answer.

When discussing what happened, Pat stated that the reason they couldn't accept the first contestant's answer was because she said "a Floppy Wide-Brim Hat" instead of just "Floppy Wide-Brim Hat". Furthermore, he said that if she would've said something along the lines of, "Is it a Floppy Wide-Brim Hat?" then they would have in fact accepted it, even though in this case, we're adding 3 words before the puzzle, instead of just one word.

It's seems a bit unfair to me. I understand when we're talking about the plural versus singular context of a word in the puzzle, but when you're willing to accept one form of an answer (which has "is", "it" and "a" before the actual puzzle words), but you're not willing to accept a more direct form, with simply the word "a" before speaking out the puzzle, it just seems unfair.

If you're going to do something like this, just take one stance or the other. Write in the rules that either you can only specifically say the words in the puzzle, or that you're leniant and you'll accept minor word additions like "it" or "the" or whatnot.

But don't take both stances at the same time and say that adding 1 word before the puzzle is unacceptable, but adding 3 words before the puzzle is perfectly fine. That's just wrong, in my mind at least. That reminds me of the early Regis days of Who Wants to be a Millionaire, where up until the $1,000 question, Regis would often just accept the letter of the answer to the question, instead of asking "Is that your Final Answer?" every time. Someone could just blurt out the answer saying, "I think it's B", and then they accept the answer, then it turns out wrong, and the contestant can argue, "But I didn't say it was my 'Final Answer'."

It's small things like this that can sometimes lead to outrage amongst people who watch game shows. The leniency factor. I'm sure the same thing happens when, for instance, on Family Feud, if the clock runs out to zero on "Fast Money" but the host still accepts the contestants answer(s) after the clock ran out, some contestants might argue that it would make the difference between winning or losing the $20,000. So if the host is laughing and having a good time because you gave one bad answer, he gives you the benefit of the doubt, but if you're just an average everyday contestant, the rules apply strictly to you.

Just my two cents on the matter...

[Lingofan97]

If it's the episode that just aired, the woman would have won $100,000 on the final puzzle. The answer was simple, even I got it.

The puzzle said: D_AL_ _ _E
The answer was:





































DIALOGUE

[DialgaChampion]

If it's the episode that just aired, the woman would have won $100,000 on the final puzzle.

Yep, that's the episode alright...

[sshuffield70]

To me, there's no controversy. The added "a" makes it wrong.

[Lingofan97]

To me, there's no controversy. The added "a" makes it wrong.

If I was a producer for the show I would have just given it to him/her.

[AlohaDave]

Pat's explanation at the end of the show was somewhat convoluted. What he attempted to explain didn't quite work in clarifying the rules of solving a puzzle. He wasn't saying that it is okay to answer the puzzle as "is it a Floppy Wide Brim Hat". He cited the example if he himself were to ask the player what they think the answer is, and then that player replied directly to Pat "is it a floppy wide brim hat". Of course this scenario never happens; Pat does not "inquire" directly to the contestant once they state that they would like to solve the puzzle. Sometimes he says "take your time" or "carefully now" but he does not ask the player "what do you think the answer is?" Thus Pat's strange explanation was rather pointless.

The rules provided to the contestants are quite clear. The puzzle must be solved verbatim without adding any words. "A" is a word. The contestant added that word. Her solve was incorrect. The producers ruled correctly. If they had "just given it to her" as suggested above, they would have been violating the written rules and the other two players would have been cheated.

[jus4hugs]

I think you missed part of it. He said that if he asks a question after the contestant asks to solve — "I'd like to solve." "What is it?" "It's [answer]." Or "What do we have?" "We have [answer]."

The extra words are considered a natural extension of the question. That's all.

[DialgaChampion]

If I was a producer for the show I would have just given it to him/her.

Well that's my point. She had the right answer. I also think they should've given her the trip in all fairness.

It's one thing if you're on Who's Still Standing... or Jeopardy, where you have to specifically provide the correct answer in the form of a question, and if you don't, your answer is deemed incorrect (however, in the case of Who's Still Standing, you can guess as many times within the 20 seconds). But in this case, give me a break. It's not like the other contestants are going to complain because you're saying "It's a [insert answer here]." You're still giving the correct answer one way or the other. Plus, it's not like the puzzle was titled "Phrase", looking for a specific phrase as the answer.

This reminds me of the $800,000 loss on the Million Dollar Money Drop...