Several people complained that the phrase was unusually obscure and argued that contestants were being asked to solve something many viewers had never heard before.
The reaction turned the puzzle into a talking point away from the game itself, with viewers debating whether it was simply challenging or unfairly difficult.
Two Very Different Sources of Frustration
The episode ultimately delivered two kinds of disappointment.
For viewers, there was frustration over a puzzle they considered too obscure.
For Sporer, there was the far more personal disappointment of knowing that one correct answer would have added another $40,000 to his total.
His Bonus Round loss was particularly painful because there was no complicated phrase waiting behind the board.
Once “ON OUR WAY” appeared, it became one of those answers that suddenly seemed obvious — but only after the clock had already expired.
Still a $35,000 Victory
It would be easy to focus entirely on the money Sporer did not win.
But his appearance was still a successful one.
Leaving a game show with $35,000 is a major accomplishment, and reaching the Bonus Round meant he had already outperformed the competition that day.
The missed $40,000 therefore does not turn his appearance into a defeat.
Instead, it makes the result more bittersweet: a strong victory accompanied by the knowledge that an even bigger one was only a few words away.
The Moment Viewers Will Remember
Game shows often create their most memorable moments when victory and disappointment happen almost at the same time.
That was exactly what happened here.
Sporer walked away with tens of thousands of dollars, but the reveal of the unsolved phrase immediately shifted attention to what might have been.
And with viewers already debating the “Seeing the green flash” puzzle, the episode ended with more discussion than a typical round of Wheel of Fortune.
Would you have solved “ON OUR WAY” in time — and do you think “Seeing the green flash” was too obscure for the show?