Wheel of Fortune fans are feeling the loss for Marine veteran Ron Sheppard after he lost out on taking home an additional $40,000 during Thursday’s episode.
After putting in a hard fight to the finale, Sheppard from Clarksville, Tenn. — who was competing against Devin Green, from Lacey, Wash., and Hillary Hudson, from Jacksonville, Fla. — stumbled over the Bonus Round puzzle, missing out on solving it on time. The miss, which fans attributed to a “stutter,” led to viewers commenting that the show should have given him the win, since he was so close to the answer.
When Sheppard advanced to the Bonus Round, he was given a choice to pick from the categories, “Phrase,” “Thing,” and “Places.” He picked the “Thing” category for the final puzzle and joined host Ryan Seacrest at the wheel to pick out his Golden Envelope.
For the two-word puzzle, Wheel of Fortune provided Sheppard with the letters R,S,T,L,N, and E. Sheppard chose M,G,C, and O as his additional letters, leaving the puzzle as “O_ _ECT_ _E O_ _N_ON.”
Wheel Of Fortune/YouTube
Seacrest kicked off the 10-second timer and as the clock counted down, Sheppard struggled to find the right answer.
He first guessed “Olecture Onion,” before heading in the right direction by guessing “Objectionable Opinion,” which was close but unfortunately not the correct answer.
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Once the time ran out, co-host Vanna White revealed that the puzzle answer was “Objective Opinion,” which had to sting since Sheppard would have had it if he hadn’t added another syllable to the first word.
“You were in the ballpark, Seacrest told Sheppard before adding to the heartbreak and revealing that the contestant had lost out on taking home another $40,000, which would have made his total $60,000.
Sheppard took the lost like a champ, shaking Seacrest’s hand as the host told him he was “a lot of fun,” and told him to “enjoy retirement.”
Fans were vocal about their disappointment in the result, taking to the show’s YouTube comments to share their displeasure over Sheppard’s loss. “Poor guy had a stutter, cut the old man some slack!! He knew what it was,” a user commented.
“I think they should of gave him that. He just had a stutter!” another YouTuber wrote. One user commented, “He definitely stuttered on the last guess.”
Another user wrote, “Wait, didn’t he say it at the very end, but he stuttered? I know they can be picky, but it was obvious he solved it lol,” while someone else commented, “I got it right away. So did he at the last second, but that somehow didn’t cut it.”
Watch Sheppard’s attempt at the Bonus round puzzle, as well as him sharing the key to his 36-year marriage above.
Wheel of Fortune airs in syndication weeknights on most stations at 7 p.m., and streams the next day on Hulu and Peacock.