‘Cut Them Some Slack’: Pat Sajak Defends Wheel Contestants From Mockery After ‘Feather in Your Map’ Debacle
Legendary Wheel of Fortune host Pat Sajak came out swinging on Wednesday against those who subject his show’s contestants to mockery and ridicule online.
Three of Sajak’s contestants became viral sensations on Tuesday after they failed to solve a rudimentary riddle.
It was painstaking to watch, as Sajak’s big board read: “ANOTHER FEATHER _N YO_R _A_.”
The segment ended only after a rogue consonant — the letter “C” — saved the fledgling contestants, one of whom wrongly answered, “Another feather in your map.”
The obvious answer to the puzzle was the common idiom, “ANOTHER FEATHER IN YOUR CAP.”
Early on Wednesday morning, I ridiculed Wheel’s fledgling contestants to no end — as did others.
Hours later, Sajak responded to the criticism via a lengthy Twitter thread.
Sajak wrote, “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.”
He went on to explain that one cannot understand the pressures of competing on a nationally televised game show, until they’re there.
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.
— Pat Sajak (@PatOnWheel) March 2, 2022
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.
— Pat Sajak (@PatOnWheel) March 2, 2022
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.
— Pat Sajak (@PatOnWheel) March 2, 2022
Sajak concluded: “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.”
The host made numerous solid points in his defense of his show’s guests, which is admirable. Sajak is a consummate professional and a national treasure.
But if we’re being honest, the clear answer to last night’s riddle was, and remains, “ANOTHER FEATHER IN YOUR CAP.”
It was so obvious.
Watch the segment above, via WABC.
