It took the three contestants all of 10 attempts to solve the puzzle.
Wheel of Fortune proved that a common phrase isn't actually, well, all that common.
The iconic game show provided a comical -- albeit, head-scratching -- moment during Tuesday's episode when three contestants struggled to solve a five-word phrase puzzle that required eight turns and 10 attempts before balance was finally restored.
The phrase "Another feather in your cap" was four letters short from being solved, but when one of the contestants, Laura, at first tried solving the puzzle, she guessed "Another feather in your hat." Christopher was up next and asked for the letter "G," which there was none. Thomas bankrupted on his next spin, which brought up Laura again, who tried to solve the puzzle but failed with "Another feather in your lap."
Christopher spun the wheel and asked for the letter "D." There was no "D." Thomas spun next but landed on "Lose a turn," prompting host Pat Sajak to exclaim "Laura!" before giving Laura the options to either guess the puzzle or spin the wheel. She spun the wheel and asked for the letter "P" before attempting to solve the puzzle yet again, but got it wrong with "Another feather in your map."
After Christopher bankrupted, Thomas finally got a spin and asked for the letter "C" and finally solved the puzzle.
The two-minute moment went viral on Tuesday, with fans going off on the three contestants. The public chiding on social media eventually got back to Sajak, who felt compelled to stand up for the three contestants.
"It always pains me when nice people come on our show to play a game and win some money and maybe fulfill a lifelong dream, and are then subject to online ridicule when they make a mistake or something goes awry," he wrote. He added in another tweet, "Good-natured laughter is one thing. Heck, they laughed at themselves. But, hey, cut them some slack. Unless you’re there, you have no idea how different it is in the studio."
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