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‘Wheel of Fortune’ Contestant Felt ‘Publicly Humiliated’ on the Show

“Wheel of Fortune” contestant Christopher Coleman says he achieved a life-long dream appearing on the show. However, he’s faced some criticism online after his episode hit the air Tuesday night. 

Coleman appeared alongside fellow contestants Thomas Lipscomb and Laura Machado. The puzzle “Another feather in your cap” went unsolved by all three contestants. Unsurprisingly, fans of the show online criticized the players.

For example, Twitter user Josh Gad simply tweeted, “God help us all” with a clip of the moment. The majority of the letters in the puzzle were filled in. However, Coleman failed to guess the last two missing pieces correctly. Ultimately, it’s a moment the contestant chalks up to being under pressure and a time crunch. 

“This idiom [‘Another feather in your cap,’] is something I learned when I was 6 or 7 years old,” Coleman explained to TMZ. “But I haven’t heard it in over 30 years and so it has been a while for me.” 

The clip circulating online shows Christopher Coleman spinning the wheel and incorrectly guessing the letter “G.”

He got one more chance to guess the mystery letter, when he suggested  “D,” which was also incorrect. According to Christopher, his choice to guess the letter “G” was because he originally thought the last word was “bag”. When “D” came out of his mouth, he says he meant to say “C” but simply cracked under the pressure of the moment. 

‘Wheel of Fortune’ Contestant Cites Pressure of Being on Set

“You are also under a lot of scrutiny and pressure when you’re in production,” Coleman said of being on the “Fortune” set. “A lot of people are sitting at home on the comfort of their own couch, yelling and screaming at the TV, when we [the contestants] are the ones in the moment and in real time, trying to guess and figure out what this puzzle is.”

“The sad part is that people are saying that we [the contestants] were not intelligent and were trying to belittle our college degrees,” he continued.

Christopher Coleman had some word for “trolls” online who poked fun at him for missing the mark. “What I would say to the trolls is that, You go up there. Half of you don’t even have public speaking skills. You go on “Wheel of Fortune” and go into the shoes of where we were standing. And then it will be a whole another conversation when they are trending and making donkeys of themselves,” he stated.

Pat Sajak Shares His Thoughts Online

He added, “Just go easy on me and the other contestants because we are very educated people, and we don’t want to be put in a situation where we are being cackled and publicly humiliated on a show that was a lifelong dream.”

“Wheel of Fortune” host Pat Sajak also called for some empathy from fans. “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,” Sajak wrote on Twitter.

https://twitter.com/PatOnWheel/status/1499050877813870592?s=20&t=quTbT1EfGxS0annxgTUT3Q

The show host shared some lengthy thoughts on the social media platform, wrapping it up with something for “trolls” to think about. “After all, you may be there one day,” Sajak wrote. “And no one wants to be trending on Twitter.”