WHEEL of Fortune fans have spun into a fury over what may have been a flat-out misruling on Tuesday's episode.
Pat Sajak deemed a contestant correct on a crossword puzzle despite it sounding like she added an extra letter to her guess.
Nadine, Mike, and Kayla were tasked with solving the Wheel of Fortune episode's crossword puzzle with the clue “Butter.”
Mike had struck out by guessing a “D” which wasn’t on the board, and Nadine correctly picked letters until only two were blank.
She told Pat, 76, that she was ready to solve it.
Pat reminded her of the strict rules specifically for crossword puzzles before she did so.
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He told her: “Don’t say anything, don’t add anything. Go ahead.”
The puzzle was "Fly, fingers, bean," and the last word “nut.”
When Nadine solved it, however, she seemingly said “Fly, fingers, bean, nuts."
“Three you go!” Pat said, rewarding her correct with $1800, while she was still saying the "S" sound.
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“You took a shot at the ‘G’, and it worked," he added, referring to the last letter she picked before solving, she said it was "Just a guess."
"Well, it worked out for you," Pat concluded.
'SHE SHOULDN'T HAVE WON THE ROUND'
Fans who heard the extra "S" took to X (formerly Twitter) up in arms over the lenient ruling and wondering if others also heard the extra letter.
“I thought I heard NUTS,” one fan posted.
Another fumed: “THE PUZZLE WAS BUTTER____. THE ANSWERS WERE FLY, FINGERS, BEAN AND NUT, BUT NADINE SAID NUTS.
"THERE WASN'T A 'S' AFTER THE 'T' AND SHE STILL WON THAT ROUND.”
A third person responded to that user: “We re-round it 3 times because our whole family heard nutS.”
A fourth agreed: “She shouldn't have won the round.”
A fifth wrote: “She definitely said nuts. I heard it.”
"Closed captioning caught it too !" noticed a sixth.
Nadine didn’t win the episode; that said- it was Kayla who wound up with the highest score of $24250 to her $11200.
The crossword puzzle was introduced in 2016, and it's the only puzzle where Pat strictly warns not to add anything before someone solves it as doing so typically renders them incorrect.
In June, Pat tweeted that the show’s 41st season, which debuted in September, would be his last.
“Well, the time has come. I’ve decided that our 41st season, which begins in September, will be my last,” wrote Sajak on X.
“It’s been a wonderful ride, and I’ll have more to say in the coming months. Many thanks to you all. (If nothing else, it’ll keep the clickbait sites busy!)”
It was later confirmed that Ryan Seacrest would be taking over for Sajak while Vanna White, 66, remains at her iconic letter board.
"I’m truly humbled to be stepping into the footsteps of the legendary Pat Sajak,” Ryan, 48, said in a statement.
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“I can say, along with the rest of America, that it’s been a privilege and pure joy to watch Pat and Vanna on our television screens for an unprecedented 40 years, making us smile every night and feel right at home with them.”
“Pat, I love the way you’ve always celebrated the contestants and made viewers at home feel at ease,” he added. “I look forward to learning everything I can from you during this transition.”
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