Wheel of Fortune

File this one under: OOOPS.

"Wheel of Fortune" aired an episode last night that featured a puzzle with the answer "The Fast and the Furious" ... just days after Paul Walker died ... and now the show is in full spin mode.

During the show, producers ran a crawl on the top of the screen that read, "This episode was taped a few weeks ago, prior to the tragic passing of 'The Fast and the Furious' actor Paul Walker."

After the show aired, Pat Sajak tweeted, "Feel terrible about timing of 'Fast & Furious' puzzle tonight. Taped long ago & went out to 200 local stations days ago."

It's time to play ... "WHEEL OF FORTUNE"!!!! Everybody ready? Great, the category is "Living Things"... now guess this phrase:

SE _EN S_ _ NS _ -S_ _ MM _ NG

Pretty easy right? Not if you were a contestant named Renee on Wednesday night's show -- who correctly solved the puzzle, but mispronounced "Seven Swans a-Swimming" ... as "Swimmin."

Turns out, no "g" ... meant no cash (which in Renee's case was thousands) -- because even though the letter was clearly on the board, Pat Sajak and the "Wheel" honchos quickly rejected the answer and moved on to the next player.

But ya gotta check out the tape, because during the EPIC rejection of an obviously correct answer ... Renee managed to grin and bear it, despite getting ROBBED ...

Pat Sajak used to be WASTED on "Wheel of Fortune" back in the 80s -- this according to the game show host himself.

Pat made the confession during an interview with Dan Le Batard -- claiming in the old days, he would down "two, three, or six" margaritas at a Mexican joint near NBC studios during the show's 2-hour dinner break ... before heading back to finish taping.

According to Pat, Vanna was also guilty of drinking on the job -- but they've since stopped the mid-show imbibing tradition.

We're told Pat and Vanna each said some kind words about the 78-year-old TV veteran -- and gave an intro to a montage honoring their friend as well ... and it's all set to air during Friday's episode.