There’s A Happy Ending For The ‘Wheel Of Fortune’ Contestant Who Lost On An Infuriating Technicality

Wheel of Fortune fans (and rational people) are in an uproar over a ruling during Tuesday’s episode of the long-running game show.

To recap: contestant Charlene Rubush made it to the bonus round, where the category was “What Are You Doing” After incorrectly guessing “CHOOSING THE RIGHT CARD,” Charlene had enough time for another answer, and her buzzer-beater response was accurate: “CHOOSING THE RIGHT WORD.” But because she paused seven seconds between “CHOOSING THE RIGHT” and “WORD,” she didn’t win the grand prize of an Audi. As host Pat Sajak explained, “This one’s tough because you said all the right words, including the word ‘word’ but as you know, it’s got to 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.” An Audi Q3, to be precise.

The ruling drew the ire of many Wheel viewers, including Jeopardy! champ Alex Jacob, who tweeted, “Come on @WheelofFortune, the woman literally chose the right word. Give her the car.” Audi was paying attention.

“You’re a winner in our eyes, Charlene. Now, let’s get you a prize. Time to #GiveHerTheQ3,” the car company tweeted. “There’s no community like the Audi community. With your help, we tracked down Charlene! More to come as we help #GiveHerTheQ3.” Merry Christmas to Charlene, and Charlene only.

— Audi USA (@Audi) December 22, 2021

There's no community like the Audi community. With your help, we tracked down Charlene!

More to come as we help #GiveHerTheQ3. https://t.co/WrX5xOVgIE

— Audi USA (@Audi) December 23, 2021