Wheel of Fortunecontestant Christopher Coleman is defending himself after receiving backlash forfailing to solvethe “another feather in your cap” puzzle on Tuesday’s episode.
Coleman claimed he had not heard the phrase since childhood which was part of the reason he was unable to solve the puzzle.
“This idiom is something I learned when I was 6 or 7 years old,” he toldTMZ. “But I haven’t heard it in over 30 years and so it has been a while for me.”
Coleman added that the high stakes of filming a television show also played a role.
He also told TMZ that if he “knew then what I know now,” he would have solved the puzzle correctly instead of spinning the wheel on his second try. “That is where I went wrong, and I take full accountability,” he said.
The puzzle from Tuesday night’s episode.Philip Lewis/Twitter
Coleman said fellow contestants, Thomas Lipscomb and Laura Machado, were also left embarrassed after not being able to correctly guess the phrase.
“Just go easy on me and the other contestants because we are very educated people,” he told TMZ. “And we don’t want to be put in a situation where we are being cackled and publicly humiliated on a show that was a lifelong dream.”
Coleman added, “The sad part is that people are saying that we were not intelligent and were trying to belittle our college degrees.”
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Coleman also called out the people who shared hate online.
“What I would say to the trolls is that, ‘You go up there. Half of you don’t even have public speaking skills,” he said. “You go onWheel of Fortuneand go into the shoes of where we were standing.’ And then it will be a whole another conversation when they are trending and making donkeys of themselves.”
He encouraged people to “have more empathy and a little more grace and understanding.”
On Wednesday, host Pat Sajakdefendedthe contestants ina lengthy thread on Twitter, arguing that the pressures of live television can cause some contestants to struggle.
“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,” the longtimeWheel of Fortunehost, 75, wrote.
He added, “Last night’s ‘Feather in your cap’ puzzle was a case in point. Sitting at home, it seems incredible that they couldn’t solve it, but I knew in real time what was happening.”
In thenow-viral clip, the contestants guessed “Another feather in your hat,” “Another feather in your lap,” and “Another feather in your map,” before the correct answer was finally said.
In total, it took the three competitors eight turns and 10 attempts to solve the five-word puzzle.
Wheel of Fortuneairs at 7:30 p.m. ET weekdays on ABC.
source: people.com
