Wheel of Fortune fans fume after Ryan Seacrest accepts mispronounced answer

Wheel of Fortune fans claim Ryan Seacrest’s move prevented another player from winning the game and having the chance to win $75,000 in the bonus round.

Ryan Seacrest has come under fire from fans of the show over his blunders (Image: Getty)

Game show Wheel of Fortune’s host  Ryan Seacrest has felt the wrath of some fans of the show after accepting a contestant’s answer despite them mispronoucing it.

Seacrest has come under fire from some viewers since he took over hosting duties from longtime host Pat Sajak.

Now, he has annoyed Wheel of Fortune fans again over him okaying contestant Kenneth’s “expresso martini” answer in a Food and Drink round, despite the correct pronounciation being “espresso martini.”

Kenneth won the $2000 puzzle prize on the November 4th episode and finished as winner with $18,850, while fellow player Darren bagged $18,750 – just $100 less.

Kenneth then moved onto the Bonus Round instead of Darren where he missed the $75,000 bonus puzzle.

Kenneth during the Food and Drink round with other contestants (Image: ABC screengrab)

Fans hit out at Seacrest on X, saying his leniancy cost Darren the chance of winning big in the bonus round.

One said: “As strict as Wheel of Fortune usually is with pronunciation, somehow they let ‘expresso martini’ slide?.”

Another raged: “He really did not win. Seacrest is an idiot. Kenneth pronounced ‘espresso’ incorrectly. Took a win away from someone else. He pronounced it ‘Expresso.’ Instead of ‘Espresso.’ They should have beeped it wrong. Travesty.”

A third added: “Nothing against Kenneth, he was a good player, but when they’ve ruled against the mispronunciations of ‘Achilles Heel’ and ‘Curio Cabinet’, saying EXpresso should have been disallowed.”

Ryan Seacrest and the show’s co-host Vanna White during an episode (Image: Getty)

On a recent episode of the ABC game show, Seacrest was criticized for pausing for several seconds before announcing contestant Cody Hunger had won the BetMGM Big Winners Tournament.

After Cody immediately solved his puzzle correctly by choosing the letters of his name–C, O, D, Y-on top of the given R, S, T, L, N, E–saying: Out of the way,’ it took a minute for Seacrest to confirm the victory.

“Cody?” he said eventually. “That’s it. You got it! Congratulations.”

Viewers took to Reddit to criticize the moment, including one who wrote: “What a nightmare for the guy as he had to wait for Ryan to wake up and tell him he got the puzzle. Vanna was clapping as soon as he said it!”

“The pause was robotic. Didn’t even say what he had won with the solve,” another pointed out.