The Greatest Gameshow Outrage of Our Time Has Been Rectified as Wheel of Fortune Contestant Gets Audi

Tuesday’s edition of Wheel of Fortune brought us one of the most pedantic moments in gameshow history due to an arcane and dumb rule. But thankfully, a grievous wrong has now been rectified, thanks to automaker Audi.

Charlene Rubush had made it to the final puzzle at the end of the show, where the category was “What are you doing?”

After getting the automatic R-S-T-L-N-E and selecting her letters, Rubush was missing four letters on a puzzle where the solution was “CHOOSING THE RIGHT WORD.”

After guessing “choosing the right card,” Rubush, said, “choosing the right–” and then paused for about five seconds before blurting “word,” just as time expired.

Even though she gave the correct response, she did not get the prize.

“You know, this one’s tough,” said host Pat Sajak. “Because, you said all the right words, including the word, ‘word,’ but as you know it’s gotta be more or less continuous. We’ll allow for a little pause, but not five seconds.”

Sajak concluded, “We can’t give you the prize,” and revealed that it would have been an Audi Q3. Rubush went home with winnings of $16,500, but without the car.

Predictably, the Wheel win that wasn’t sparked a fair amount of outrage on Twitter. Former Jeopardy! Tournament of Champions winner Alex Jacob led the charge, using the hashtag #GiveHerTheQ3.

On Wednesday, Audi announced that on Twitter that it was stepping in to do what the anal retentive cheapskates at Wheel would not: give her the damn car.

“You’re a winner in our eyes, Charlene,” tweeted Audi USA. “Now let’s get you a prize.”

A 2022 Audi Q3 starts at around $36,000.

Watch above via WABC.