‘Wheel of Fortune’ host Pat Sajak reacts after ‘nervous’ contestant loses easy $1 million puzzle

nypost.com:

wheely poor luck. Outgoing “Wheel of Fortune” host Pat Sajak attempted to console a contestant Monday when he lost his chance to win $1 million after failing to solve a nearly complete puzzle during the show.

During the show’s third puzzle of “fun and games,” contestant Izzy Santiago, who was leading the competition with $2,550, spun big by landing on the coveted $1 million slat.After correctly guessing the letter “F,” Santiago was presented with a nearly complete board reading “_ra_i_g from _ame_ from a hat.” It was then that Sajak, 76, announced that the man had two choices. “You have that and you have [your existing] $2,250.

There are no vowels left,” Sajak boomed. “Spin it or solve it!” Feeling confident from his recent acquisition, Santiago elected to solve the puzzle. “I’ll solve,” Santiago exclaimed. “Drawing games from a hat!” After a dreadful silence, which was punctuated by one over-enthusiastic fan clapping, Sajak deemed the answer to be incorrect. “No,” whispered the host following the buzzer and a loud groan from the audience.The puzzle, which was solved immediately after by another contestant, correctly read “drawing names from a hat.” Sajak, in rare display of affection, attempted to chalk up Santiago’s blunder to nerves. “You know, in addition to the regular nervous system — now here’s a million dollars and all this stuff. ‘What am I gonna do?’ Things like that happen,” Sajak stated. “I got so nervous,” Santiago replied somberly.

Several X (formerly Twitter) users weren’t quite so forgiving of the blunder. “NO WAY IZZY SAID DRAWING GAMES FROM A HAT. Who even says GAMES in that context?