‘Wheel of Fortune’ fans slam ‘stupid’ puzzle: ‘It’s freaking ridiculous’

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Wheel of Fortune fans are sounding off after a contestant was given a seemingly obscure bonus round puzzle to solve.

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After she was given the “What Are You Doing?” category, a contestant named Angela guessed “M, H, D and O.” As the clock ticked down, she had 10 seconds to solve the puzzle, which read “_ O _ N _ N _ THE _ R _ _.”

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Clearly flustered, Angela blurted “Joining the cramp, joining the cra…!” almost saying “crap” [per Fox News].

“Joining the brag?!” Angela said hopefully before time ran out.

“Joining the fray,” longtime host Pat Sajak revealed. “You got joining … that was a really nice try.”

According to The Free Dictionary, the idiom “join the fray” means to “To become a part of an ongoing fight or argument” or “To enter into some competitive endeavor.”

Angela’s failure to solve the puzzle cost her $45,000, but she was a good sport, telling Sajak, “Not a problem.”

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Despite pocketing $20,563, many Wheel fans vented on social media for giving Angela such an uncommon phrase to solve.

“#Angela on @WheelofFortune got a piece of CRAP bonus round. I have NEVER heard of ‘joining the fray’ before in my ENTIRE life. Can we get some kind of #Sponsor to give this woman a #prize ??????? What the hell kind of puzzle was that??? Come on now. #ridiculous!! Let’s get this,” one passionate viewer tweeted.

“Whatever snooty NY Times crossword puzzle doing Harvard grad that yall got to come up with JOINING THE FRAY needs to take his expectations down a peg.. #wof #WheelOfFortune,” another reacted.

“Joining the Fray — who the hell ever comes up with something like that? It’s freaking ridiculous,” a third person added.

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“WHAT THE HECK IS JOINING THE FRAY?” a fourth fan angrily asked. “I’m intelligent, but that is stupid.”

But not everyone was confounded by the phrase.

“Everyone pissed off about the wheel of fortune final puzzle being ‘joining the fray’ need to read some books,” one person wrote, firing back at critics.

“Wheel of Fortune bitching about a puzzle that had the phrase ‘Joining the Fray’ — saying they had never heard it before in their lives — these people should have done a lot more reading in their lives instead of sitting in front of a television,” wrote another.

“Right?” agreed a third viewer. “Pick up a freaking book. It’s on Shakespeare. JRR Tolkien. Instead of reading Facebook and TikTok replies. Educate yourself on some classic literature. You’ll be better for it.”

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The latest controversy is just the latest in a long line of grievances Wheel fans have had with the show recently.

Last week, Eboni infuriated fans when she picked a letter that had already been asked for by a fellow contestant as she tried to solve a four-word puzzle under the “Event” category.

In a subsequent episode just days later, a contestant named Kaycie went viral after she kept spinning on one puzzle that was missing just two letters under the category “Place” with the completed phrase being: “Live Music Capital of the World.”

On social media, Kaycie’s blunder was met with derision, with one fan branding her “THE DUMBEST WHEEL OF FORTUNE CONTESTANT EVER.”

Those back-to-back gaffes came after Sajak defended a contestant for answering “Miniature goat” in the “Fun & Games” category when the clue read, “MIN______ G___.”

“What’s more fun than a little tiny goat?” Sajak said after another contestant mocked the response. “At least you can laugh at yourself.”

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