Ryan Seacrest is generally convincing Wheel of Fortune Viewer with his energetic look at the game show. However, the relatively new host came under heavy backlash on Wednesday, December 18, after apparently not acknowledging a player’s correct solution to a bonus puzzle. Fans claimed she would have lost the $50,000 prize if she hadn’t repeated herself.

The chaotic moment involved Noel Ballacco, a Disney roller coaster enthusiast from Eastchester, New York. With $13,100 and selecting “People” as the category, she made it into the coveted bonus round. Given the two-word puzzle, she chose a “G” and then an “L” as her first additional letter. Although that letter was part of “RSTLNE,” Seacrest said, “Okay.” That in itself was a mistake that Ballancon herself corrected by backtracking and choosing an “M,” an I, and a “C.” The puzzle was “GRE_T”_I_S.”

The 10-second timer began and Ballanco’s first guess was what sounded to many fans and to Vanna White like it was the correct answer: “Great kids.” The iconic letter turner broke into a grin and nodded. But the timer kept ticking, Seacrest said nothing, and she wasn’t rewarded with the puzzle.

On her second attempt, Ballanco said more clearly: “Great kids?” White shrugged and looked at the host, seemingly confused (below). The hostess finally concluded that she was right: “Yes! That’s it!”

The broadcast was cut to show that Ballanco had won $50,000 from the golden envelope, and what made the round even more puzzling was that Seacrest was never shown opening the envelope, but instead said “Yes, yes, yes.” ” shouted, putting his hands over his mouth to imitate the player.

On Reddit, a fan captioned a post in WoF Forum, “12/18 Bonus Round.” They wrote: “Did anyone else notice that she said the correct answer but Ryan didn’t initially call it correct? She had to say it a second time before it was confirmed. I even backtracked to my TV to make sure I heard it right the first time.”

Other fans took to the comments section to say Seacrest was “popped” and shocked that, in their opinion, he didn’t understand the first correct solution.

“Yes! Even Vanna nodded and said yes after saying it for the first time,” one fan wrote.

“Yeah! I was wondering what was going on,” wrote another.

“Ryan needs to get back to his game. I heard it too. Almost had a controversy,” wrote a third.

“It’s the boys’ first season…how about giving him a little break?” argued a fourth.

A fifth person then wrote: “Admittedly he had a few difficult times with some things. I can understand that he might not get them right, but these are basic things from day one.”

A sixth wrote: “Ryan beeped and they left it open for the world to see.”

And a seventh: “It’s good that she repeated herself! Otherwise it would have been chaos.”

Over at Come on, Ryan, pay attention!”

Meanwhile, Seacrest obviously had big shoes to fill in replacing the legendary Pat Sajak. Its debut month was the highest ratings month WoF for the past three years, and he has endeared fans to his candidate interviews, which he conducts without clue cards. However, there were some other questionable moments as host.