Extra Tough 'Wheel of Fortune' Puzzle Leaves Fans Divided
It left contestants and viewers stumped.
Wheel of Fortune fans called out the show for an extra tricky puzzle featured on the March 17 episode.
Contestant Julie Medcalf chose the Person category for her bonus puzzle and figured out most of it. With the letters FO-N--NG P-RTNER on the board, she was able to correctly guess that the second word was "partner" but failed to crack the first one.
It later turned out that the term used for this Wheel of Fortune puzzle was "founding partner." The difficult puzzle cost her a $40,000 bonus cash prize. She won the episode with $15,169.
Some fans understood why Medcalf hadn't solved it.
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"Founding Partner? The writers really phoned that one in!" wrote fan Wheel Watcher, whose account is solely dedicated to commenting on the show.
"@WheelofFortune founding partner is not a thing: founding fathers YES. Such BS," wrote another fan.
However, as some pointed out to both fans, founding partner is actually a common term, defined by Divestopedia as "a term used to describe the shareholder(s) of a company sold to a private equity-backed platform company very early on in a company roll-up."
Bill Carroll tweeted, "Sorry to say but I'm labeled as a Founding Partner for several businesses and that phrase is used everywhere in every Country for businesses everywhere... I knew the answer right away, but maybe it's because I know what the phrase means."
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Melinda Oldham also pointed this out, writing, "You need a bit of help here. A "founding partner" is such a thing. Large firms have founding partners who are equity partners which means they hold a financial interest in the firm. Most founding partners are also those who were there at the start of the firm."
Perhaps this puzzle was selected to keep both viewers and contestants on their toes.
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