Popular TV show Wheel of Fortune faced heavy public backlash after the host (and the show's authorities) refused to give a contestant a well-deserved Audi because of a 'minor' technicality in last Tuesday's episode of the show.
Contestant Charlene Rubush made it to the Bonus Round with $16,500 in her pocket. To win the prize of that round, which was an Audi Q3, she had to solve a puzzle and she did exactly that, but missed out on the Audi because of a mere rule that seemed 'dumb' to the audience.
Here's what happened in the Wheel of Fortune episode
Under the "What Are You Doing?" category, Rubush had to guess a phrase with letters missing from it. She first guessed "Choosing the right card" before Sajak told her that it was not the correct answer. Repeating the first three correct words of the phrase, she then paused for a few seconds before saying the right answer of "word" right before the buzzer rang.
After the round, Pat Sajak told her:
"You know, this one's tough, because you said all the right words, including the word 'word' but, as you know, it's gotta be more or less continuous. We'll allow for a little pause but not four or five seconds. I'm sorry. You did a good job in getting it, but we can't give you the prize, and it was the Audi."
Despite Rubush being happy about her prize money and a paid vacation, a majority of the audience, who were watching the show from their homes, found the incident unfair as they took to social media to express their anger and disgust.
Jeopardy! contestant Alex Jacob posted a video of the round on Twitter and asked the show to "give her the car":
Here are some other tweets that did not agree with the show not giving Rubush the Audi she rightfully 'won':
But the good news is that the European car company decided to right the brutal wrong committed by Wheel of Fortune by giving Charlene Rubush exactly what she was robbed of, the very same Audi SUV. On December 23, Audi USA tweeted that it was "Time to #GiveHerTheQ3."
Audi has not yet revealed the details of when and where the car will be delivered, but people who were previously offended by the show's decision are now happy as the company stepped up to do the right thing.