‘Wheel of Fortune’ viewers slam misleading ‘place’ bonus puzzle that cost contestant $100K

Another evening, another “Wheel of Fortune” snafu.

Fans have slammed the long-running game show once again as a contestant failed to guess what some viewed as a mischaracterized final puzzle on the episode that aired Wednesday night.

After Laura Young, Spencer Morris and Briantae Maddox competed for the cash prize, however, some claimed that the bonus question was not categorized properly.

Young, who was positioned to win a grand prize of $100,000, could not come up with the right answer after all four of her letter guesses failed to appear on the board.

The final category was titled “Place,” with Young opting for the letters C, D, P and O with the show’s picks of R, S, T, L, N and E.

Host Pat Sajak — who is leaving his post as the show’s long-time emcee later this year — didn’t look too happy with her choices, appearing to roll his eyes at her answers.

With the puzzle reading “_R _ _EL ” “_ _ L _ _ _ _,” Young was unable to come up with the correct phrase before time was up.

The answer? “Gravel walkway.”

“No way you were gonna solve that puzzle with the letters you had,” Sajak, 77, said, adding that he felt “terrible” that she missed out on the full money amount.

Young, however, walked away with $19,250 in winnings.

Some took to social media to vent about the final puzzle, saying that a “gravel walkway” was a “thing” and not a “place.”

Someone shook their head on X: “@WheelofFortune You don’t know the difference between a place and a Thing!! Gravel Walkway is NOT a place. Wrong!!”

“Just a friendly reminder that #WheelOfFortune likes to add adjectives to trick their contestants in the bonus round for added difficulty. For example, GRAVEL WALKWAY on last night’s show. ‘WALKWAY’ is the place, but Gravel is the adjective that describes the place, the walkway,” another chimed in.

One screamed: “I’ve got beef with whoever makes the final puzzles on #WheelofFortune. I’d consider gravel walkway to be a ‘thing’ and not a place. The answers have been whack this week.”

Earlier on the game show, Young and fellow contestants Morris and Maddox had issues solving a different puzzle in the “Occupation” category.

The phrase was: “Hollywood tour guide.” X users believed the puzzle was too easy to get wrong, but none of the trio got it right.

“This was a painful episode,” a viewer penned on the platform. Another interjected: “This is possibly the single worst round of #WheelOfFortune I’ve ever seen. Mind numbingly dumb.”