‘Wheel of Fortune’ Slammed After Player Fails To Solve This ‘Outdated’ Puzzle

December 28, 2025 by Nadia

The bonus round followed the usual format. Johnston received the standard letters — R, S, T, L, N, and E — then selected her own picks: G, C, M, and O. After the letters appeared on the board, the puzzle for the category “What Are You Doing?” looked like this:

_ _ _ _ NG T O _ ER NO_

Johnston threw out several guesses under pressure but couldn’t crack the code. With the clock running out, she finally admitted, “I’ve got nothing.”

Then host Ryan Seacrest flipped the card and revealed the correct answer: “Faxing it over now.”

Johnston stared in disbelief. “I don’t even know what faxing means!” she said with a laugh.

That one word — faxing — instantly lit up social media, where fans didn’t hold back.

“Seriously? Who even says that anymore? My grandma does, and she’s 90!” one viewer wrote on YouTube. Another added, “When was the last time ANYONE used a fax machine? That’s ancient.”

A third fan commented, “That’s not fair at all. How is that even relevant in 2025?”

The backlash didn’t stop there. Many viewers argued that the show should update its puzzles to reflect modern language. “Just make the answer ‘emailing it now,’ and we’re good,” another fan joked.

Despite the frustration, Johnston didn’t walk away empty-handed. She had already dominated the earlier rounds and took home $28,539 in winnings. Still, losing out on that extra $40,000 over what many call an “outdated phrase” left fans outraged.