‘Wheel of Fortune’ Fans Reveal Their Biggest Contestant Pet Peeves

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It’s almost certainly easier to second-guess a game show player’s moves from the comfort of a couch with no buzzers or countdown clocks in sight than it is to actually play the games. Even so, we can’t always discount armchair opinions about players’ strategies when they’re based in fact and logic, and Wheel of Fortune fans are sharing some pretty interesting observations about what contestants tend to get wrong.

In a Reddit thread on the Wheel of Fortune fan page, one Wheel Watcher decided to share a thought on one player tendency that drives them bonkers, writing, “Nothing makes me more angry on this show than … Someone saying I & G on a ‘What Are You Doing’ final puzzle.”

The suggestion here is that it’s a waste of two letters — including the one precious vowel available in a bonus round — because it’s a given that “ing” will be at the end of the word or phrase in question.

One commenter had an astute bit of mathematical support for the original poster’s note, writing, “Including today, WAYD? has been chosen in syndication 232 times. 73 of them had no additional I or G, which is about 31%. Meanwhile, in the same range including today, for Rounds 1-6, excluding toss-ups, there is no additional I or G about 21% of the time.”

From there, others on the thread decided to share their nit-picks about what they don’t like players to do.

“When someone buys all the vowels in a row,” one commenter suggested.

“[When the] contestant has nearly all the letters on board & spins ‘one more time’ and hits bankrupt/lose a turn. Then next player clearly knows it & still spins for the one big money wedge …. even though they’d still end up with 1k minimum but then hit lose a turn also,” another offered.

“For me, it’s a toss-up between this and solving the final puzzle without calling a letter first. Even if you’re in last place, try to get some more money. If you’re at zero, but the letter value is more than the house minimum, why not try to get more than $1,000?” yet another fan added.

So do you agree with the fans, and what is your personal pet peeve about players’ decisions? Hit the comments to let us know!