Posted in: ABC, TV, YouTube | Tagged: ABC, pat sajak, vanna white, Wheel of Fortune

Wheel of Fortune Contestant Pushes Back on Social Media Trolls

If we're being honest, we never thought we would find ourselves writing as much about Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune as much as we have in 2021 and 2022… but here we are. By now, you probably know the story from earlier this week: with Pat Sajak and Vanna White looking on, three contestants Wheel of Fortune needed 10 attempts to solve a puzzle that was missing only four letters: "ANOTHER FEATHER _N YO_R _A_". Though the answer was "ANOTHER FEATHER IN YOUR CAP", the responses given included "Another feather in your lap", "Another feather in your map", what sounded like someone thinking the final word was "gag" and some awkwardly-timed "Bankrupt" spins- all making for what some call the "worst two minutes in 'Wheel of Fortune' history." Did we laugh our butts off at it? Definitely, but not at the contestants so much at just how the guesses and the bad rolls and everything else made for a "perfect storm" of game show awkwardness. But some folks took to social media to mock and belittle the three contestants personally to the point where Sajak took to Twitter to defend them (see below). One of those contestants, Christopher Coleman, is pushing back against online trolls in a conversation with TMZ.

"This idiom ['Another feather in your cap,'] is something I learned when I was six or seven years old. But I haven't heard it in over 30 years and so it has been a while for me," Coleman explained. "You are also under a lot of scrutiny and pressure when you're in production. A lot of people are sitting at home on the comfort of their own couch, yelling and screaming at the TV, when we [the contestants] are the ones in the moment and in real-time, trying to guess and figure out what this puzzle is." And for everyone online who thinks they're in positions to judge, Coleman has a message for them: "You go up there. Half of you don't even have public speaking skills. You go on 'Wheel of Fortune' and go into the shoes of where we were standing. And then it will be a whole another conversation when they are trending and making donkeys of themselves." Believing that people "should have more empathy and a little more grace and understanding," Coleman had a simple request to make of social media- wrapping up with, "Just go easy on me and the other contestants because we are very educated people and we don't want to be put in a situation where we are being cackled and publicly humiliated on a show that was a lifelong dream."

Here's a look at some moments from Tuesday night's episode along with how WCNC Charlotte covered the conversation that took place on social media not long after the episode aired (above), along with Sajak's complete message on Twitter from earlier:

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.

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.

Now imagine you're on national TV, and you're suddenly thrown a curve and you begin getting worried about looking stupid, 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. I've been praised online for "keeping it together" and not making fun of the players. Truth is, all I want to do is help to get them through it and convince them that those things happen even to very bright people.

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.

Good-natured laughter is one thing. Heck, they laughed at themselves. But, hey, cut them some slack. Unless you're there, you have no idea how different it is in the studio.

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.

After all, you may be there one day. And no one wants to be trending on Twitter.

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