People Outcried Over “Wheel of Fortune” Puzzle Answer That Seemed to Be Senseless

Wheel of Fortune is known for delivering entertaining puzzles that families can enjoy solving together. However, the stakes can become far less amusing when thousands of dollars hang in the balance, and a single error proves to be costly. Such a fate befell an unfortunate contestant who missed out on a substantial prize but garnered the unwavering support of the online community.

Lucky streak that ended badly.

Laryn Nelson, a school principal from Atlanta, was on fire during her Wheel of Fortune run that didn’t end exactly as she expected. During the episode, Nelson seemed to be enjoying herself quite a bit and racked up a total $24,250 in winnings. She gladly stepped up to complete the bonus round, which is where her troubles began.

The puzzle presented to Laryn read “_ _T_INING M_ G_ _LS”. The contestant quickly figured out the “MY GOALS” part, but was struggling to zero in on the verb. She suggested that the solution was “PITCHING MY GOALS”, but was seemingly incorrect. Once the time ran out, the answer was revealed as “OBTAINING MY GOALS”.

Nelson was visibly frustrated with the solution and said: “Oh my goodness. Alright. Alright. That’s okay. I’m gonna do that one day though, obtaining my goals.” The host, Pat Sajak, then went on to reveal that the grand prize that Laryn could’ve taken home was a brand-new car, which made the contestant scream frustration. At least, she did win $24,250.

Fans cry foul over that puzzle answer.

Following the broadcast, numerous Wheel of Fortune fans expressed confusion on social media, aguing against the use of the phrase “Obtaining My Goals”.

• ATTAINING my goals, not OBTAINING! That was just wrong. She needs to be brought back to spin again. Snowflake Weepy / Twitter
• I think WOF made a common grammatical mistake. Attaining My Goals, means to achieve them. Obtaining My Goals, means receiving them. Did they really mean Obtaining? I doubt it! Manny Gagliardi / Twitter
• With all due respect to your show (and I have a lot), “obtaining my goals” is really lame. She had every right to say “alright” sarcastically. Michael G / Twitter

To prevent finding yourself in a similar predicament, should you ever find yourself on ’Wheel of Fortune,’ you can practice every day by solving brain-teasing riddles to keep your mental faculties sharp. Challenge your cognitive regularly.