'Wheel Of Fortune' Fans Are Mad At Ryan Seacrest Over Controversial Win

Should a ‘Wheel of Fortune’ contestant be allowed to win after mispronouncing a word while answering a puzzle? 

During Monday's controversial show, flight attendant Kenneth from Charlotte was credited with winning a ‘Toss Up Challenge’ when show host Ryan Seacrest allowed the contestant to answer "Expresso martini" when the puzzle was "Espresso Martini." 

The puzzle was worth $2,000. 

Why does that matter? Because Kenneth beat contestant Darren by $100 — $18,850 to $18,750 — and moved on to the Bonus Round where Kenneth couldn't solve the puzzle to win $75,000.

Let's dig into the evidence: 

‘Wheel’ watchers know this is a huge sticking point for the show. Sometimes these pronunciations are allowed, sometimes the contestants lose thousands of dollars for not speaking clearly like what happened in 2012 when a woman answered a puzzle with "Seven swans uh swimmin'" only to have Pat Sajak declare that's not right. 

A year later, a contestant got tongue-tied while trying to say "Corner Curio Cabinet" and Sajak declined to accept the answer. 

Sajak tended to be a stickler. 

Now we have Seacrest accepting "Expresso Martini" and fans are not happy, especially when there's precedent. Do you remember the 2014 incident where the guy had trouble pronouncing "Mythological Hero Achilles?"

In other words, get it together Seacrest. Let's have some standards. That $2,000 cost Darren a shot at thousands.