Wheel of Fortune misfires crop up now and then, but they seldom reach the gone-viral peak of this latest one. And Pat Sajak isn't having it, reports Deadline. All but four letters were revealed in "another feather _n yo_r _a_," but the contestants couldn't get the old-timey phrase "another feather in your cap." It wasn't just one misfire, but multiple ones over two minutes. Instead of "cap," some of the guesses were "hat," "lap," and "map." You can watch it here, in one of the many videos in play on social media. Dave Holmes at Esquire has an entertaining moment-by-moment recap.
Sajak, however, has had enough with the "armchair" critics. In a Twitter thread, he made the case that these critics have no idea what it's like to solve a puzzle in front of TV cameras. "I've been praised online for 'keeping it together' and not making fun of the players," he writes. "Truth is, all I want to do is help to get them through it and convince them that those things happen even to very bright people." Critics should "have a little heart," he adds. "Mocking them online and calling them names? These are good people in a bad situation under a kind of stress that you can't begin to appreciate from the comfort of your couch." One of the contestants—he guessed a "G" thinking the word was "bag"—tells TMZ the same. (More Wheel of Fortune stories.)