Why ‘Wheel of Fortune’ Fans Are Coming for Ryan Seacrest Again

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Ryan Seacrest gets negative attention after one Wheel of Fortune the contestant’s answer was judged correct by the host despite adding extra words to their answer.

The 50-year-old host confused viewers of the game show on Friday, January 10, after contestant Kiana Moreland tried to solve a puzzle during the express round of the game show under the “Living Things” category.

The puzzle in question read: “AARDVARKS / AND / AN _ E _ _ _ E S.” When the contestant answered, the contestant asked, “Are those aardvarks and antelopes?” Seacrest paused for a moment, then declared Moreland’s answer correct.

Fans of the show claimed that adding “is it” to her answer made it wrong. Some viewers picked up Wheel of Fortune Reddit sub to discuss the ruling.

One user posted about the ordeal, writing: “I thought the whole ‘adding extra words’ thing was universal to all puzzles,” before asking: “Does this happen often?” Fans of the game show responded to the post with their opinions.

“I’ve had the feeling that the Wheel and Jeopardy judges have both been a little bit more lenient ever since their new hosts took over. Just random timing, I guess. People like to see other people win money, they might give people the benefit of the doubt,” one fan wrote. Another added: “I was waiting for Ryan to say, ‘Sorry, that’s not correct,’ especially when he hesitated for a few seconds before responding that it was a correct solution.”

A third fan looked into the official rules and wrote: “In all cases, the judges will try to give the ‘benefit of the doubt’ to the contestant who solves the puzzle, taking into account speech disorders, regional dialects, nervous contestants and the studio. Each case will be evaluated individually , and the judges’ decision will be final,” before adding, “I don’t think the rest of the rules should have been made, but if the judges say it’s fine, that’s fine.”

The host of the show was most recently accused of costing a contestant $13K during an episode that aired on December 17th. Wheel fans argued that Seacrest should have reminded the contestant that he could buy a vocal instead of guessing the puzzle wrong and losing out on potential winnings.

Seacrest took over as host Wheel in September following the retirement of Pat Sajak after 41 years hosting the game show.