Pat Sajak's Wheel Of Fortune Flub Is Raising Eyebrows

When you've held the same job at the same workplace continually for four decades, you're generally considered an expert, and your daily routine should be second nature. That's the way things usually go for Pat Sajak, who's been the host of "Wheel of Fortune" since 1983 (via CinemaBlend). But last week, he made a mistake that would be considered shocking even for a newbie emcee — and it's got fans talking.

On the episode airing April 15, the contestant who made it to the bonus round had to solve a puzzle that fell under the "phrase" category. As usual, the letters R, S, T, N, L, and E were provided for him, and he was allowed to choose three more consonants and a vowel. His choices didn't help much, since he was still left with a lot of empty spaces: "—TE -RAN-L-." Noticing how tough the puzzle was, Sajak made an offhand remark: "Yikes. Well ... ah ... I'd rather be standing here than there, quite frankly." (via the Daily Mail)

Turns out, "QUITE FRANKLY" was the solution to the puzzle. But the contestant didn't catch Sajak's blooper, and he wasn't able to solve the puzzle before time ran out. He lost out on a substantial bonus prize, but was still able to take home the money he won during the previous game rounds.

In the final minutes of the show, Vanna White called Sajak on his blunder: "Did you hear what you said?" Pat Sajak admitted that he had. "But it goes to show you that people are concentrating and they're not paying any attention to me," he added, to the chuckles of the studio audience. "It's just funny ... what your mouth will say that your brain says you shouldn't do that."

The show's official Twitter page posted a clip of Sajak's goof, captioned, "Did anyone catch this?" with a watching-eyes emoji. Faithful Wheel fans were quick to say that they certainly did. One watcher said, "I knew the answer right away and was shocked to hear it come out of Pat's mouth and even more shocked that it didn't sub-consciously land in [the contestant's] mind. I'm great at the game at home, but know the pressure to solve in the moment must be intense!" Another defended the longtime host: "Yes I did LOL just proves Pat is human, we all slip up sometimes. The contestant was not listening to him anyway." A few others said that they knew the answer to the puzzle, but didn't hear Pat Sajak reveal it first.

One follower wondered what would have happened if the contestant had heard Sajak's comment and used it to solve the puzzle. Although the page admin didn't give an official response, another fan gave what seems to be a logical reply: "They'd give it to the contestant. It's the show's fault, not the contestant's."