Wheel of Fortune The new era with host Ryan Seacrest is now in full swing, and it wasn’t long before a bonus puzzle aired that fans felt wasn’t the cream of the crop.

Derrick Balfour of Frederick, Maryland emerged victorious on Tuesday, October 1 in the weeklong BetMGM Big Winners Tournament. With $13,200 in cash and a prize trip to Las Vegas, he entered the bonus round and chose the “Food and Drink” category.

While focusing on Seacrest, Derrick was presented with the two-word puzzle and chose “M, D, K, A” as his additional letters (a departure from the more common “C, D, M, A”). Only a “K” and “A” were added by the iconic Vanna White, who dazzled in a bright pink dress. The puzzle read: “’_AS_E_ ‘ ‘_ _ LK.’

Derrick immediately knew it was something ‘milk’, but couldn’t get much further than that, rattling off ‘Cheese Milk’, ‘Goose Milk’ and other variants. The 10 second timer expired and Derrick was unable to solve it. Seacrest joked, “Some of the great milks for protein, that milk.

“But no,” he clarified: “It’s ‘Cashew Milk.’”

Derrick missed another $40,000. Seacrest assured him he was “close” and reminded him he could return on Friday’s finale episode, given the format of the tournament.

However, fans took to social media to cry over spilled milk, labeling the puzzle as far too obscure (compared to the likes of ‘Almond Milk’) on X and in the comments section of the WoF video on YouTube.

“Wheel of Fortune is going to do its best to make sure you don’t solve that last puzzle,” one X user wrote during airtime.

“Who the hell is going to think about cashews, let alone shout a ‘W’? I’m angry,” wrote another.

“Who THE F*** drinks CASHEW MILK?” echoed a third.

“This puzzle?? It stinks. I never drink that milk. This left me a bit confused. thought it was…. yolk? something. geez, come on man,” one YouTuber wrote.

“I’ve heard of almond milk, but not cashew milk. If he had shouted a ‘C’ he would have gotten it,” wrote another.

“The puzzles are now SUPER STUPID, especially the last one. Is Maggie Sajak making them up in her head,” a third bellowed, calling out poor Maggie Sajak (Pat Sajak’s daughter is the WoF social media correspondent, has no say in puzzles).

Meanwhile, fans are warming up to Seacrest as WoF’s new frontman after seeing Sajak every night for four decades. He has kept the ratings steady; achieving its strongest week in five years for the debut of season 42. But apparently some things never change.

During Sajak’s tenure, especially towards the end, WoF was full of bonus puzzles that fans hated. There was the equally questionable ‘Foamy milk’ during season 40, and the infamous ‘Taking a Quick Jog’ puzzle.

In that case, the contestant who missed it went viral by challenging Pat as the puzzle was categorized as ‘Fun and Games’. “Well, look, I don’t consider jogging fun and games,” he said to the former host’s face

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