There have been several cases where contestants have been affected by pre-emptions in their areas. While many of them did make it up for them, it seems they will only do so if the contestant reaches out, since apparently Wheel can't be bothered to do so. It's typically not a big deal for people on the West Coast since most stations usually slide back Wheel to around 9:00 PM.
Here are several examples of contestants' episodes getting pre-empted in their home markets, and in some cases, having the station make it up to them.
- Edgar Ibay (
edgargamingocean ) from June 10, 2016 watches Wheel on KOMO Seattle (ABC). That day, Wheel was mostly pre-empted due to the NBA Finals running long, and only the Bonus Round (which Edgar did not make it to) was seen. Edgar reached out to KOMO, but they refused to re-air the episode in full. He then reached out to Wheel, and he was sent a DVD master copy free of charge.
- Bill Johnson (
bjphlt ) from December 25, 2017 watches Wheel on WPBF West Palm Beach (ABC). As usual, all ABC affiliates were pre-empting Wheel for the traditional NBA games, and WPBF did not have that day's Wheel scheduled at all. William reached out to WPBF but he never received a response. Later in the week, WPBF quietly added the affected episode to their schedule on Saturday at 5:00 PM. William was never notified. He only found out because I discovered it and I let him know. He was able to watch it, although
whammypower788 , who got the episode unaffected on WDJT Milwaukee (CBS), was able to get him a copy earlier in the week.
- Patti Bowdler, also from December 25, 2017, watches Wheel on WPVI Philadelphia (ABC O&O). Presumably after reaching out to them, WPVI aired the week's episodes on a one-day delay, so Patti's (and William's) episode aired December 26 at its regular time, although the week's Friday episode ended up never airing because WPVI still aired the usual rerun on Saturday.
- Jean Gilliss from February 9, 2018 watches Wheel on KSBY Santa Barbara (NBC). Her episode was among a stretch of 12 straight weekday shows that would be pre-empted on NBC affiliates by the 2018 Winter Olympics. While KSBY did not air most of these episodes, they made an exception for Jean and aired her episode early that day at 12:30 PM, in a slot usually given to infomercials.
- Barbara MacGregor from February 20, 2018 also watches Wheel on KSBY Santa Barbara and was also pre-empted by the Winter Olympics. Presumably after reaching out to them, KSBY postponed her episode and eventually aired it in Wheel's normal time slot on February 26, the first weekday after the Winter Olympics ended. KSBY asked Wheel for special permission for this special airing. The actual February 26 episode was postponed to 12:30 PM the following day.
- Mike Rouse and Brad Hansen (
behxtd ) from April 27, 2018 watch Wheel on WDAF Kansas City (FOX). That day, Wheel was pre-empted on all FOX affiliates due to the NFL Draft. WDAF would be airing the episode at 1:02 AM. Brad joined this site looking for help, and I told him about the now-defunct CJON stream from Canada which aired Wheel at 2:30 PM Central time, so he screen recorded it and played it back at his viewing party, which he did not want to postpone since it's no fun if 95% of the rest of the country has seen the show already.
- Jessica Shadid from December 25, 2018 was said to be from North Brunswick, New Jersey, which is part of the New York City market, although some providers in that area also carry stations from the Philadelphia market. Regardless, Jessica had no way to watch her episode from her hometown, as both WABC and WPVI did not air that day's Wheel at all, and did not air it on a one-day delay, either, unlike last year.
- Caleb and Lydia Hobgood from April 25, 2019 watch Wheel on WKRN Nashville (ABC), which likely pre-empts Wheel more than any other affiliate, rivaling WBZ Boston. That day was the first day of the NFL Draft. Although the Draft itself did not affect Wheel on the East Coast the first day, most if not all stations owned by Nexstar Media (which includes WKRN) aired a Draft preview special at 6:30 PM Central Time, pre-empting Wheel on that station and others. Despite featuring a local couple, WKRN bumped their episode to 12:37 AM.
- As stated in the OP, Jharna and Chuck Patel from April 26, 2019 watch Wheel on WTVD Durham (ABC O&O). Wheel was pre-empted on all ABC affiliates that day by the NFL Draft, so WTVD announced on their social media that, due to the local contestants, their episode would air a day later on Saturday 4/27 in place of the usual rerun (compared to the same day's Jeopardy! which aired at 1:35 AM).
