A very difficult or unpleasant experience such as what? Staying outdoors on a freezing cold day?
A wringer is an old fashioned aid to drying clothes. It comprises two rollers in a clamp and a ‘crank’ type handle which operates cogs that turn the rollers in opposite directions. The wet clothes are squeezed between the rollers to remove excess water. They come out flat, shapeless and creased.
So it’s a very difficult experience such as being squeezed flat between two giant rollers!
Thank you, B.
Could you give me some examples?
If someone is staying outdoors for long hours on a very cold day, can he say that he has been put through the wringer or he has gone through the wringer?
He might certainly feel as though he’s been through the wringer, and there’s nothing wrong with using it in that context, but most often the term is used in connection with stressful situations:
“He was put through the wringer in that interview.”
“By the time the police finished questioning him he felt as if he had gone through the wringer.”
“You can see he found the exam difficult. He looks as if he’s been pur through the wringer.”
Thank you, B.
When Susan Boyle showed up in Britain’s Got Talent, she was singing elegantly in front of a large audience. If I had been her, I would’ve been put through the wringer.
How’s my use of the idiom?
Pretty good Tofu.
Do you mean the judges would have put you through the wringer? (Because that what it sounds like)
or do you mean your own nerves would have made you feel that way? (In which case you need to say "If I had been her, I would have felt as if I’d been put through the wringer, " because there was no one else involved. You could also say, “I could never do that because it would be too much like putting myself through the wringer.”)
I think there were times during that competition when the press put Susan Boyle through the wringer!
Yes, I do.
When Susan Boyle showed up in Britain’s Got Talent, she was singing elegantly in front of a large audience. If I had been her, I would have felt as if I’d been put through the wringer.
Although there’s nothing wrong with that, usually another person or thing is involved. You are put through the wringer by someone else, as in the other examples I mentioned:
the interview panel with the interviewee;
the police with the man being questioned;
the exam (or exam panel) with the examinee;
the judges with Susan Boyle.
Thank you, B.
When Susan Boyle showed up in Britain’s Got Talent, she was singing elegantly in front of a large audience. [color=red]How fantastic! [color=red]If I were an attendee in the show, I would feel as if I were put through the wringer by the leading judge Simon Cowell’s severe comments.
Much better now?
Oh, that’s much more like it.
You’ve used the idiom just fine in that sentence. The only mistake is that you said, “If I had been her.” It would have been better to say, “If I had been in her place…” or, “If I had been in her position…” In other words, the judges were easier on her than they would have been on you. “I would’ve been put through the wringer,” means that the judges would have been very rough on you.
It’s completely unnecessary to say you were made to “feel” as if you’d been put through the wringer. If someone uses the idiom “to be put through the wringer”, nobody actually thinks the person was physically put through the wringer. Everybody knows that the idiom is symbolic, so it’s normal for people to say they were put through the wringer explaining that it was only a feeling.
It’s much too wordy. It would be more normal to say this:
When Susan Boyle showed up on Britain’s Got Talent, she was singing elegantly in front of a large audience. [color=red]How fantastic! [color=red]If I were a participant on the show, Simon Cowell would have put me through the wringer.
Thank you, Jamie.
When Susan Boyle showed up on Britain’s Got Talent, she was singing elegantly in front of a large audience. How fantastic! If I were a participant on the show, Simon Cowell would [color=red]have put me through the wringer.
Is [color=red]have necessary?
I guess we’ll have to agree to disagree on that point, Jamie. The use of ‘felt/feel’ in the example would have removed the ambiguity which prompted me to ask which meaning was intended.
Not necessarily. 
It depends on what tense you want to convey.
Hi Tofu,
If you want to follow the traditional conditional format, it is: If I had been a participant in the show, he would have put me … You need ‘had been’ and ‘have’ because this refers to what could have happened in the past.
Alan