Ryan Seacrest called it “a tricky one” after Ally Metcalf missed the Bonus Round on April 9, losing out on a Ford with the answer “Chummy Buddies.” Metcalf, who had brought her husband Ryan to the stage, had chosen the category “People” and was left staring at a board that looked like “_ _ _MM_ _ _DD_ES” before she took her best shot.
Metcalf had already won the game and reached the Bonus Round with $19,200, after being given R, S, T, L, N and E and then choosing M, D, P and A. She did not solve it and guessed the last word might have been “Paddles,” prompting Seacrest’s blunt read on the puzzle. Her run came after Jim Spallina, who had won $13,800 on April 8, returned for his second game, while Tucker Dunn solved the first toss-up on April 9 and later won $10,000.
The result mattered because April on the show gives the prior night’s winner another shot until they lose, and Metcalf had been one answer away from leaving with the car. Instead, she gets a second chance on Friday’s episode, after viewers quickly piled on the Bonus Round clue itself, calling it “bogus” and “old-timey.” One Reddit user asked, “That bonus puzzle, wtf man?” while another fan wrote, “Seriously!! Chummy buddies?! Who would ever think of that?”
The criticism went beyond one disappointed contestant. Fans said even Seacrest seemed to know the board was a stretch, with one writing, “Even Ryan was like yeah I mean no one was getting that one lol,” and another adding that the puzzle used words nobody says together in normal speech. That leaves Metcalf’s next appearance with a simple test: whether the second chance can undo one of the most baffling finishes of the week.