The wheel of fortune was not spinning in one contestant’s favor this week.
On Tuesday, Dec. 21, Wheel of Fortune contestant Charlene Rubush was at the top of her game when she made it to the Bonus Round of the show with $16,500 already in her pocket. Then, a delayed, yet correct answer to the final puzzle cost her to lose out on a brand-new Audi Q3.
In the video clip, Rubush first incorrectly guesses the answer, then correctly solves it—but with a long pause in the middle—just as the buzzer dings. (For maximum confusion, the puzzle answer was “Choosing the right word.”)
That long pause cost her everything.
The show’s host, Pat Sajak, was the one to break the bad news. “You know, this one’s tough, because you said all the right words, including the word ‘word,’ but, as you know, it’s gotta be more or less continuous,” he explained.