Businesses Give Maine ‘Wheel of Fortune’ Contestant Trip She Lost
Kristen Shaw from Bangor was a contestant on the November 21 episode of Wheel of Fortune and lost a trip to Nashville when she inserted the word "and" when trying to solve a crossword clue puzzle. Businesses in Nashville have chipped in to give her the trip she lost on that technicality.
Crossword Clue puzzles are words displayed on the puzzle board that connect like a crossword. For Kristen's puzzle, she had all the letters revealed but one, making the solution easy. Or so we thought.
The clue was "_______ Field." The correct way to solve it is to say the words "Right. Football. Left. Sally." They can be said in any order, but you must only read the words that are in the puzzle. Kristen said "Right. Football. Left and Sally." Because she included the word "and," she didn't solve the puzzle correctly according to the rules.
It's something that actually happens a lot on Wheel of Fortune as this video from YouTube user Robert Santoli shows with a compilation of the times it's happened, Kristen's being last.
This technicality in the rule has had social media in an uproar thinking it was unfair. According to WMTW 8, businesses in Nashville felt the same way too and got together to give her a trip to the Grand Ole Opry.
The crazy part about all of this is that in September, Jessica Garsed of Augusta lost $1600 on Jeopardy by giving a response of "Omaha Steak" with no S, instead of the correct response of "Omaha Steaks." Omaha Steaks saw it and decided to donate the $1600 she lost to the charity of her choice.
Keep screwing up on game shows Mainers. It's working out in your favor!