Here's why 'Wheel of Fortune' host Pat Sajak put winning contestant in wrestling hold
CULVER CITY, Calif. (TND) — It's not every day that someone walks away a winner on the popular iconic game show "Wheel of Fortune," but it is certainly a rarer achievement to have host Pat Sajak put you in a wrestling hold.
But that's exactly what happened to contestant Fred Fletcher-Jackson on Tuesday's episode. No one should be concerned, however, as Fletcher-Jackson reportedly says he "loved it."
Fletcher-Jackson, both a drama teacher and professional wrestler, did well for himself on the show, winning $75,800. After attaining victory, he was put into a "chicken wing"-style hold/combination headlock by the show's 76-year-old host.
Following the moment, some show viewers were critical on social media of the impromptu wrestling match, with Fox News even calling it "bizarre."
Others found it more entertaining than not, and some even made jokes about the incident.
But despite some online criticism towards Sajak, Fletcher-Jackson told TMZ that he's the only person who "has any business being upset about it," and he's "perfectly OK with it."
In fact, Fletcher-Jackson said that Sajak playing around and putting him into the hold was a highlight of the show for him. Fletcher-Jackson wants critics to cut Sajak "some slack," TMZ says.
If it’s not your sense of humor, I can understand that. Everybody’s sense of humor is different, but to call it cringe and to call for his retirement, is taking it a little too seriously I think," Fletcher-Jackson told TMZ.
Fletcher-Jackson reportedly said he wrestles professionally for "very little" money and mostly just does it for fun, and that Sajak impressed him.
I’ve been in enough hammerlocks in my wrestling career to where I know that it really doesn’t hurt necessarily, but he did have me pretty tight and my arm was not going anywhere," Fletcher-Jackson told TMZ.
Pat Sajak has been the host of "Wheel of Fortune" since 1981.
