A contestant on Monday night’s episode of Wheel of Fortune made an error so shocking it prompted one audience member to shout out what everyone was thinking: “What!?”
With all but one letter on the board, it looked like Khushi, a Grade 10 student competing during the game show’s “Teen Week” special, was set to win a trip to Antigua and US$650.
After correctly guessing the letter ‘H,’ the board in front of Khushi and her competitors showed the nearly completed answer to the Food & Drink category: “FRE_H TROPICAL FRUIT.”
“Solve it, or spin it … but do something quickly,” encouraged Wheel of Fortune host Pat Sajak.
Khushi acted quickly, but not carefully. She spun the wheel, which landed on the $650 prize marker, and gave her answer.
“I’ll go with a G,” Khushi said, visibly hesitant. In response, the audience groaned in disbelief behind her.
Another contestant, Juliana, stole the win and answered correctly: “Fresh tropical fruit.”
On social media, folks echoed the audience’s shock. One Twitter user even called the wrong answer “the biggest choke in all of Wheel of Fortune history.”
Sajak tried to vouch for Khushi after her botched answer and reminded audience members about the pressure of being on the Wheel of Fortune stage.
“Sometimes it’s a word that just doesn’t want to come into focus for you,” he said, noting that viewers at home were likely to scream at their TVs from the couch.
Though the blundered answer is certainly one for the record books, you probably won’t find any “fregh tropical fruit” in stores anytime soon.