Wheel of Fortune’s new era with host Ryan Seacrest is now in full spin, and it didn’t take long for a bonus puzzle to air that fans felt wasn’t the cream of the crop.
Derrick Balfour from Frederick, Maryland emerged victorious on Tuesday, October 1’s episode during the week-long BetMGM Big Winners Tournament. With $13,200 in cash and a prize trip to Las Vegas, he went to the bonus round, choosing the category “Food and Drink.”
Joining Seacrest center stage, Derrick was shown the two-word puzzle and he chose “M, D, K, A” as his additional letters (a deviation from the more common “C, D, M, A”). Only a “K” and “A” were added by the iconic Vanna White, who stunned in a bright pink gown. The puzzle read as “‘_AS_E_ ‘ ‘_ _ LK.’
Instantly, Derrick knew it was “Something ‘milk’” but couldn’t get much further than that, rattling off “Cheese milk,” “Geese milk” and other variants. The 10-second timer ran out, and Derrick was unable to solve it. Seacrest quipped, “Some of the great milks for protein, those milks.
“But no,” he clarified: “It’s ‘Cashew Milk.’”
Derrick missed out on an additional $40,000 Seacrest assured he was “close” and reminded him he could return on Friday’s finale episode given the format of the tournament.
However, fans took to social media to cry over spilled milk, branding the puzzle as way too obscure (compared to, say, “Almond Milk”) on X and in the comments section of the WoF clip on YouTube.
“Wheel of Fortune is gonna do their best to make sure you don’t solve that last puzzle,” one X user wrote during airtime.
“Who the hell is gonna think cashew, let alone call out a W I’m upset,” wrote another.
“Who THE F*** is drinking CASHEW MILK?” echoed a third.
“This puzzle?? It stinks. I never drink that milk. This was why I got stumped a bit. thought it was…. yolk? something. jeez c’mon man,” one YouTuber wrote.
“I’ve heard of almond milk but not cashew milk. If he would’ve called a “C” he would’ve got it,” wrote another.
“The puzzles are SUPER STUPID now especially the final ones. Is Maggie Sajak making them up in her head,” roared a third, calling out poor Maggie Sajak (Pat Sajak’s daughter is the WoF social media correspondent, has no say in puzzles).
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Meanwhile, fans are warming up to Seacrest as WoF’s new frontman after seeing Sajak nightly for four decades. He’s held ratings steady; raking in the strongest week in five years for the Season 42 debut. But apparently, some things never change.
During Sajak’s tenure, especially towards the end, WoF was rife with bonus puzzles that fans disliked. There was the similarly dubious “Foamy milk” during Season 40, and infamously, the puzzle “Taking a Quick Jog.”
In that case, the contestant who missed it went viral by challenging Pat since the puzzle was categorized as “Fun and Games.” “Well, see, I don’t consider jogging fun and games,” he told the former host to his face
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