wheel of fortune

After the usual R, S, T, L, N, and E were put up on the board, Dodson was looking at “_ _ _ _ _ L _ N _.” He quickly guessed C, H, P and A, none of which appeared on the board. He then guessed “funneling” and “finding,” but they didn’t work.

The final answer: “Quibbling.”

Paul's Bonus Round | S41 | Wheel of Fortune

After the solution to the puzzle was revealed, the audience began to boo because they didn’t think it was fair. It had 2 Bs in the short answer, started with a Q and was a word that isn’t used often in casual conversation. The crowd’s reaction was an excellent show of support for Dodson, who encouraged the crowd to keep going by raising his hands.

Host Pat Sajak, 77, pushed back against the boos, jokingly asking the audience, “Who asked you?”

So, would Dobson have won the $1 million if he guessed quibbling? Nope. The card he chose would have earned him an Infiniti car if he had guessed correctly. But all in all, it wasn’t a bad outing for Dodson, a father of 2 from Aurora, Ohio. He managed to win $33,500 against Venetia Brown ($7,550) and Jessica Huffman ($2,000).

The tough puzzle earned a lot of boos on social media as well. Twitter was lit up with people who thought that Dodson got cheated by being given a challenging puzzle with a word seldom used in conversation.

This is actually the sixth known time the word QUIBBLE or any derivative was used on the show, and the fifth in the Bonus Round, the first of which was EXACTLY ten years ago today. #WheelofFortune #QUIBBLING pic.twitter.com/pAvHW05SmC

— WheelRob (@WheelRob10) May 23, 2024

seriously @WheelofFortune ? quibbling? why dont you just admit that your never going to give away the million dollars

— jen swindell (@jens22) May 22, 2024

I just wanna know who uses the word quibbling on a daily basis? #WheelOfFortune

— ☆☆Miss Johnson☆☆ (@DC4L_77) May 23, 2024

yooooo the crowd just boo’d the final puzzle on wheel tonight - category was “what’re you doing” and it was just one word - “quibbling”. Weak af @WheelofFortune never heard the crowd boo before bc it was so outrageous 😭😭😭

— Det. Del Spooner (@Atta_Boy_Roy) May 22, 2024

QUIBBLING????? What does that even mean! #wheeloffortune

— 🪀 (@yorobertaa) May 22, 2024

Big changes are in store for “Wheel of Fortune” in the coming weeks. The final episode with Sajak as host will air on June 7. Sajak has been the host of “Wheel” since 1981. Vanna White, his co-host since 1982, will remain with the show. “I couldn’t be happier to have shared the stage with you for all these years with one more to come," she wrote on X last year after Sajak announced this would be his last season. "Cheers to you."

Well, the time has come. I’ve decided that our 41st season, which begins in September, will be my last. It’s been a wonderful ride, and I’ll have more to say in the coming months. Many thanks to you all. (If nothing else, it’ll keep the clickbait sites busy!)

— Pat Sajak (@PatOnWheel) June 12, 2023

Sajak has been a beloved host on "Wheel of Fortune," earning 19 Daytime Emmy Award nominations for Outstanding Game Show Host and winning three times. In 2019, he set a Guinness World Record for the longest career as a game show host for the same show, beating the previous record held by Bob Barker.

A familiar face will replace Sajak, Ryan Seacrest, best known for his work on “American Idol” and “Dick Clark’s Rockin’ New Year's Eve.” "I can't wait to continue the tradition of spinning the wheel and working alongside the great Vanna White," he said after it was announced he was the new host.

This article originally appeared on 5.24.24