Wheel of Fortune fans were none too happy with host Pat Sajak, 76, after he made fun of a contestant’s phobia.
Ashley Laumb from Tacoma, Washington, had been watching the game show ever since she was pregnant with her son, who is now 18. She continues to watch the show with her daughter, Sofia.
Laumb was excited to be appearing on the show after applying twice and planned to make her first letter-guess an ‘S’ in honor of her daughter.
But Laumb may have regretted stepping onto the stage when Sajak revealed her worst fear. She had mentioned that she doesn’t “like fish” during her Q&A, which prompted Sajak to question her further.
“You don’t like to eat them? You don’t like to swim with them?” he asked.
“Nothing, nothing at all,” Laumb replied. “If they’re on a plate or in the water, I don’t want to be near them.”
Sajak continued his line of questioning: “Were you frightened by them as a little girl?”
“It’s a long story, Pat. We don’t have time,” Laumb joked nervously.
But then Sajak did the unthinkable during the bonus round after Laumb managed to win and sail through with $23,000 in prize money.
As they stood behind the wheel, Sajak reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a fake fish. He began waving it around before handing it to another contestant.
“Ashley, you all right!? Big winner $23K!” Sajak said to Laumb as she looked visibly upset. “You’ll forgive me for that, won’t you?”
Laumb manages to get over the shock of Sajak’s stunt. She won the bonus round and walked away with $63,000.
But fans of the show took to the show’s official Instagram page to complain about Sajak’s taunting. “Pat is shady,” wrote one person in the comments.
Another added: “I’ve watched wheel of Fortune on a daily basis for most of my life. Tonight’s episode was just so wild. The fake fish thing at the end…never have I ever seen Pat pull these kinds of shenanigans. And you know he likes to be the funny guy.”
And a third wrote: “I wanna know more about this gal! Why doesn’t she like fish??? Best contestant yet.”
Laumb applied for Wheel of Fortune with the encouragement of her daughter, Sofia, according to her local newspaper The Tacoma News Tribune.
She went to one of the show’s “Wheelmobile” recruiting events in 2019 but didn’t get through. Laumb finally made it onto the game show after applying online.
Wheel of Fortune fans were none too happy with host Pat Sajak, 76, after he made fun of a contestant’s phobia.
