Wheel of Fortune!

Surprise, I was a contestant on the gameshow Wheel of Fortune!

It was a really fun experience and I want to share a little about my application and audition process, as well as how it was to actually be on the show.

If you want to watch my episode and didn’t get a chance to do it yet, don’t read too far below (*spoilers*)! And if you can’t find the episode, let me know and I’ll get you a link.

August 28- Submitted my application

I kind of applied on a whim. It was some combination of pandemic boredom and an idea that popped up while I was playing ukulele one afternoon. I used to watch Wheel of Fortune a lot as a kid and it seemed like a fun show. This year, I’ve been on a bit of a yolo (you only live once) streak and thought why not.

The online application itself was pretty basic but also allowed you to submit a short video. For my video, I came up with a short song on the ukulele, singing about the time in third grade when I disappointingly lost the only spelling bee I’ve ever been in. Wheel of Fortune was going to be my chance to redeem myself.

I practiced the song a few times, hit record, and submitted my application. I had a fun story and hoped my song would catch the producer’s attention but didn’t really expect much especially since the odds of getting on the show are so slim (out of over one million applicants, only 600 people are selected to appear each year).

If you came to my watch party, you are one of the lucky few that got to see my audition tape :)

September 11- Was invited for a virtual audition

A few weeks later, I was in Las Vegas for a work conference and was sitting in my hotel room when I received an email from WOF saying that I was selected for a virtual contestant audition. I signed up for a slot later that week.

There wasn’t much time to prepare, but I watched some recent episodes to get a good idea of the show’s different games and how it flowed.

The actual virtual audition was a group audition and there were two other potential contestants in my audition. A WOF contestant coordinator asked us to introduce ourselves (like the first part of the show with Pat) and some basic questions about why we wanted to be a contestant.

After that, we played some mock games! We did six rounds of toss-ups (this is one of the game types on the show) as a group, including holding up a pen to mimic the buzzer, and then we also had some individual word puzzles to try to solve (similar to the bonus round on the show). I got some laughs from the group with my intro about the spelling bee story and thought I did okay on the mock games, so was pretty happy with how my audition went.

The contestant coordinator said that they would let us know any time within 6-12 months, and all there was left to do was wait.

September 27- Selected as a contestant

It was just like any other day of work-from-home… until it wasn’t. I got this email in my inbox:

I couldn’t believe it!! I screamed/yelled a little and danced around and punched the air in my room. I had to read over the email again just to make sure that I wasn’t seeing things.

The first person I called was my mom and she was so excited. She preemptively reserved one of my audience seats for my tape day. We had watched the show together when I was growing up and she overjoyed that she was going to get to see me on stage spinning the big wheel.

Now that I was selected as a contestant, I still had to wait to hear when I would go down to LA for taping. Since they don’t confirm taping schedules very far in advance, I would get two weeks notice and then had to find my way down to the studios to tape.

October 8- Notified of tape day

I was in Austin with friends when I got the email for my tape date later that month.

With my tape day confirmed, I started to really ramp up my preparation for the show. I researched and studied up on Wheel of Fortune strategy from fans and previous contestants. I also looked up recent episodes and watched as many as I could in my free time, practicing my puzzle solving while watching.

October 27- Tape day

Tape day was a full day affair. I got to Sony Studios early in the morning and we didn’t finish until early evening.

In the morning, we went through all of the rules of the different games and puzzle categories, signed some forms, and then got randomized into episodes since they tape multiple episodes in the same day. Everyone got hair and makeup done. We also got a few chances to practice spinning the wheel. The wheel is actually really heavy (it weighs over 2,000 pounds!) so it was helpful to try it out before taping.

Unfortunately due to covid precautions, contestants couldn’t bring any family or friends to be in the audience, and the other contestants acted as the audience when it wasn’t their episode’s taping. Another random fun fact: I was actually prepared to wear a white shirt under my navy blue suit for the show, but they had me change into my backup grey shirt after the white looked too bright on camera tests.

Before we started filming, the other contestants on my episode and I wished each other luck and hoped we would all go home with a lot of money. The actual episode flew by so fast. It’s only about 20 minutes long, and by the time I started to settle in, it was over.

I was definitely nervous once the bright lights came on and there’s so much going on when you’re up there as a contestant. There’s the puzzle board, a used letter board, and a scoreboard to pay attention to, all while you’re under the clock and pressure of calling a letter, buying a vowel, or deciding whether to spin or solve.

Our episode was very competitive with each of us jumping into the lead at one point. These were some of my running thoughts during the episode:

• First puzzle: It took me a while to figure out this puzzle even though I eventually solved it and won the round. I kept thinking “Captain Bird” for some reason. This turned out to be a bit of a blessing in disguise as I kept spinning to guess letters since I didn’t know it yet and landed on a big money $2500 wedge. I kept looking at the used letter board and finally came up with “Captain Kirk” literally right before I was going to spin again. It was a great start and saved me from a potentially embarrassing fail haha.
• Second puzzle: I started this round and got a T and bought two vowels. But then I made the fateful mistake of calling an S, which wasn’t in the puzzle. I didn’t get another chance during the round and fell into second place. In retrospect, I probably should have controlled this round but got a little flustered and guessed S without really thinking about the crossword clue enough.
• Third puzzle: I figured out this puzzle pretty early on in the round, but never even got a turn.
• Triple toss-up: Before this round, I saw that I was in last place and needed to do well here. Getting all three toss-ups would jump me into the lead, so I was very focused. And well wouldn’t you know it, I got them all and took the lead! Pat said I was “going bananas!”
• Final puzzle: I got to spin the wheel for the dollar amount and landed on the biggest money wedge, which meant each correct letter would be for $6,000! One of the other contestants had a great solve here and swiped the lead from me to go to the bonus round.

My biggest regrets were losing control of that second puzzle and missing out on big money in the final puzzle. But you win some, you lose some, and I was proud of how I competed on the show (in addition to walking away with a good chunk of change).

I had a lot of fun and the show also did a great job with covid-safe practices when taping. Pat, Vanna, Jim Thornton (the announcer) and all the staff were great and very nice all day.

December 2- Episode airs

I told all my friends when my episode would air and it was so much fun hearing all of their reactions when it finally aired. I also hosted a watch party with a group of family and friends which was a ton of fun as well. Everyone was so into it and cheered and booed everything as if it were a sporting event.

You can only be a contestant on Wheel of Fortune one time in your life so this really was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and honestly a dream come true for kid Stanley. I think I did enough to redeem that spelling bee loss :)