June 1, 2016 recap/discussion (cowheelfan)

I'm glad Liz got a puzzle under her belt, despite the fact that she only solved it for the house minimum. Glad to see Mandi get on the board with $4,650 and congratulations to Paul on his $26,950! I remember being at his taping and there were a couple of outtakes that weren't seen on tonight's show. Pat thought one of the consonants for the Mystery puzzle was not available, however, it was revealed that there was at least one of it. Also, someone in the audience shouted out the $3,000 Toss-Up puzzle, which I can't remember what that category and puzzle was. Mandi was behind and I was hoping she would be as lucky as I was three weeks ago on the Mystery, but ended up finding a BANKRUPT. I was hoping Paul would solve the bonus puzzle, but I do want to thank him for being one of the seven guys from Colorado to make it to the bonus round.

I do not know why so many people solve their first puzzle under $1,000. Since that is what they are going to get anyway, they would be risking absolutely nothing by spinning again until they pass the minimum. I would not take a chance on that being the only puzzle that I was going to solve when I had the chance to win a little more money.

<<I do not know why so many people solve their first puzzle under $1,000. Since that is what they are going to get anyway, they would be risking absolutely nothing by spinning again until they pass the minimum. I would not take a chance on that being the only puzzle that I was going to solve when I had the chance to win a little more money.>>

Yeah. I know what you mean. That's another thing I'd like to see changed the house minimum for not winning anything on the show is exactly the same as the minimum for solving a puzzle without any money or if a contestant were to not win anything besides the $1000 toss-up. I guess contestants some times want to avoid spinning and risking hitting Bankrupt or Lose a Turn, but I see what you're saying. If I were playing I would definitely want to try to surpass the $1000 minimum in a round. (Prize puzzle round being the exception of course.)

I am planning on posting a fully blown play by play a little bit later today so that's still coming!  Funny though how some parts of the game were not like I remembered them to be in the moment!  Haha!

I did want to respond to this comment though for now because this is what has been eating away at me for the past couple of months.

I don't know if any of you remember, but a week or two ago, I posted on a Philadelphia episode recap that the third tossup had a special significance for me (it was WINNING MONEY).  Clearly this was a recycled & slightly altered puzzle from my episode...

Our original third tossup's category was "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" & the puzzle itself was "MAKING MONEY."  As the puzzle got underway, Liz buzzed in and had nothing to say.  A second later, Mandi buzzed in and said "MAKING MOVIE" (which was wrong).  Now, Jackie had told us before the show started, "If you are the third one to ring in on a tossup, wait until towards the end, because it looks goofy if everybody gets the tossup wrong."  So after Mandi got hers wrong, Pat even said, "Paul, you may want to wait for more letters to come up & then buzz in." 

So I wait until all but 2 letters are filled in, I buzz in, and right as Pat's saying my name, a particularly loud Yugoslavian lady (I was told by other audience members & my friends & family after the fact) shouts out "MAKING MONEY!"  So I look at Pat, say the same thing a bit monotone (which at that point the puzzle was obvious... that was why I waited til towards the end to solve), Pat says "Yeah," the puzzle board flashes, but it was clear that something was going to happen because there was a flurry of activity.  Someone from the crew shouted out "WE DON'T APPRECIATE THAT!"  Pat told us that this hadn't happened in years!  I told Pat "Apparently we're the fun & crazy show eh?" (alluding to what Eugene was talking about when a T was called and Pat said no T in R2... I'll post more on that later as well).  We sort of just stood there while we waited for further instruction.  Then Harry came up to us and said, "We have to throw it out.  We have no choice; we have to throw the puzzle out."  Pat said to Liz & Mandi, "Well the good news is that no one will see those mistakes now!"  And then we had the third tossup (I'll post on that later, but basically I was thinking "What the hell is served with sauerkraut and starts with a P?!"  Haha)

The varying emotions I've felt on this have been fluctuating a lot over the past 2.5 months.  Afterwards, when I was upstairs signing my contracts, I said to Jackie, "Well, as unfortunate as it was, at least that shout out led to everybody getting at least one solve!"  And that sentiment still holds true for me today, though I wish Liz could've walked away with a bit more.  She was a hilarious & kind individual who I enjoyed spending the day with!

But then as I thought about it in the days after, I was thinking, "Hang on a minute!  That was my puzzle, darn it!"  I kept dwelling on the fact that it had cost me a potential main game sweep, which if nothing else, had me extremely disappointed.  My folks & friends said that nobody was removed from the audience, nor did anybody from the staff come up & talk with anyone about what had happened.

Then I touched base with Tyler (from Denver week) after the fact, who confirmed it was in fact this Yugoslavian woman decked out in St. Patrick's Day gear who had shouted out the answer.  He told me that he was walking out with Mandi and that his sister had pointed out this woman getting into her car as the woman who blew the third tossup, and so Mandi said "Thank you!" (jokingly I was reassured by Tyler)

As tuffy & kevin can attest to, I was unbelievably frustrated about the whole thing.  The money of course would've been nice, but at that point it was just a drop in the bucket.  It would've been nice to have had the chance to go for the main game sweep.  And who knows, if I had won it, maybe I would've hit bankrupt myself in R4 (which I did anyway!), but maybe Liz could've left with more money than she did, or Mandi as well!  

The most frustrating part for me was that this was all completely out of my control.  It's not that I buzzed in and didn't know it, or came up with a goofy answer... someone else ripped the puzzle away from me, after the other two had already tried to solve it.  I initially was beating myself up for not buzzing in a second sooner, but then I thought, "Nope!  I should not have had to do that!"  Beating rogue audience members is not supposed to be a part of the game!  Haha!  And I had every chance to beat Mandi on the new tossup, but that's the puzzle that shouldn't have been there to begin with.  Oh well!  C'est la vie!  In the grand scheme of things, this was really nothing. 

At any rate, seeing the whole show play out last night gave me closure on it, and I am just overwhelmed with gratitude for the whole experience.  Just amazing.  I will definitely post a more detailed show recap later, but wanted to share this "behind-the-scenes" story with you all.  Cheers!

Paul, you did fantastic last night!

Too bad you didn't get to sweep the maingame, but at least the ladies broke through when they did. (Reminds me of Paul from Monday's episode.)

But wow...some audience members just don't get it, don't they? At least there was a silver lining in this case.

Yes, Liz may have spingled in Round 4, but what if she had BANKRUPTED and never gotten any money at all? I sure thought we'd get a Round 6 here.

Well, that Bonus Puzzle was a toughie. I think a B may have helped, but at least you lost the minimum.

My rating: 7.5

Enjoy your winnings, sir!

Also, I notice the contestant coordination here: there were 17 contestants for Great American Cities sets, not 15 or 18.

All right, these is really long-winded, but I figured if anyone could appreciate it, it'd be the fine folks at BAV. Parts of it I wrote from my memory in the week after taping, and then I went through today to add in & make adjustments.

When the music started & Jim started his intro, I remember looking at my fellow contestants and we were all smiling/feeling excited as the show started… when Pat & Vanna were coming out, it was so exciting! They were walking out to play with us!

Tossup 1: I have to preface this with the fact that I love the shuttle program our country has had. A few years ago I visited KSC and met Barbara Morgan, a “Teacher in Space” and Christa McAuliffe’s backup. It was a thrill to meet her. And then it didn’t hurt that the fact that the day before taping, my buddy from college Vasilios picked me up from the Sheraton in Culver City & took me to see the Space Shuttle Endeavour, per my request. If you have yet to see a shuttle in person, absolutely do so. It was an incredible sight to see. So as the letters were coming up, I realized what it was, and it was just so exciting to realize that I knew the answer! Felt like it was meant to be.

The Pat Chat flew by. It was so strange to be talking to a man who I’ve watched & respected for so many years as though he knew me well! Ha! I liked his bit about where Kilimanjaro was. Who doesn’t want to banter with Pat?! I had completely forgotten Liz’s intro about the Pats… came off well I thought. And of course Mandi was funny with her talking about her lizards!!!

Second tossup… To be frank I don’t even remember this one. And I didn’t even remember the category (nor did my family/friends!) So watching it back on TV last night was a bit odd haha.

First round: The apostrophe was everything there. Immediately I tried to think of possible words and couldn’t think of any that would be five letters plus a ‘T (Didn’t, Can’t, Won’t too short; Couldn’t, Wouldn’t, Shouldn’t too long), so I figured my best bet would be to call an S first. (Did anyone else notice I was the only one of the three of us clapping during the first spin? Haha!) I was surprised to hit the $2500 right off the bat! When I bought the E, the minute I saw E_E at the end of the puzzle, I knew it was EYE, and just worked my way backwards & figured out what the puzzle was. So I knew I wanted to call Ts on a higher value wedge (800 was good enough for me!). At that point, I had $7950. This was edited out, but Pat asked me what I wanted to do, and I said “I’ll spin one more time.” I was really torn because on the one hand, $7950 is a ton of money. But I also knew that I wanted to maximize my winnings if possible in the first round, in case the prize puzzle didn’t go my way. So I spun… and the entire time I’m eyeing that Lose a Turn and as the Wheel was slowing down I was thinking “crap crap crap crap” but it clicked off of that last spoke! I actually did exhale “phew” and called the H, which is why Pat said “Nice exhale.” At that point, I knew that if I had $10K or more in round 1, I would solve. And so I did! To be frank, I just didn’t care about the Ms or Rs at that point (and still don’t! Haha!) With the first spin, I saw my spin pattern was about one rotation and two wedges over, but then the next one went even further. I just didn’t want to risk it at that point! Pat came over for congrats, and I wasn’t even listening; I was just over the moon happy & in disbelief! (Which is why there was a lot of awkward nodding haha) We had to step down from the Wheel, and my arms felt numb! Jackie and Alex came in with “CONGRATULATIONS!” and bottles of water! I was just in shock. I had already WAY surpassed my goal of just getting 3K and one puzzle under my belt, so I figured anything else at this point would be gravy!

I forget exactly what we said to each other, but Liz or Mandi said something to the effect of “Hey Paul, now it’s our turn to play!” to which I said “Of course!”

*Also, side note: I was really excited to see that our Mystery Round was sponsored by Egglands Best. I had talked to Liz about that all day and when I heard the music, I looked at her and shook my head… but they edited it in afterwards! So for all you future contestants who hope you get Egglands Best for your mystery round & don’t hear the music during the taping, keep those dreams alive!

Anyway, Pat made the comment about me agreeing to let the other two play and we were off! Liz starts off and calls a T. Pat says “Nope no T, Mandi.” Mandi spins and immediately as the Wheel is going people are running at us shouting “TURN AROUND! TURN AROUND!” What the heck was going on?! We were all thinking “Did we do something wrong?! What happened?!” We all were asking each other whispering “What just happened?!” Jackie came up to us and was like “Don’t talk, look at me!” Pat then explained to us that what had happened was that a T had been called, Liz got the buzzer for it, when there actually was a T. Whoops! We actually were stopped for a solid 5 minutes if not more. They also had to figure out if the Wheel had actually been spun after the T (it had been), and so they had to reset that & rewind the tape. The stage manager stood next to Jackie and said “This almost never happens, right Pat?” And Pat rolled his eyes and chuckled, so I guess it’s more frequent than not. So they played back the opening of Round 2, and when we heard Liz call the T, we were then allowed to turn back around and face the puzzle. The round progressed. I felt bad that Mandi hit the bankrupt on the MW. Pat turned to her as we threw to commercial and said “You have to go for it!” and I told her as we stepped down from the Wheel, “I would’ve flipped as well, no doubt.” I knew the first two words as the round progressed (Cincinnati & Cleveland), but Columbus was evading me. I bought the I because I knew it was there (and it filled in Cincinnati for me) so then I bought the U and had it at that point. Too bad that Mandi didn’t get that puzzle since she’s from Ohio! Oh well.

During this commercial break, the coordinators reminded us it may be to our advantage to solve as soon as we could because it was the prize puzzle next!

Prize Puzzle. Mandi starts off by hitting the MDW and duds with the S. After calling the T, I had a feeling I knew what it was. I bought the A just to make sure it didn’t show up in the last word. This is where my only true regret comes into play for how I played the game. I had every intention here of calling the F. But when I heard the “Beep Beep” I thought “Oh, well that’s just the minimum of $500. I’ll call a single letter instead and then spin again.” (Also they tape those things down to the Wheel rather nicely haha). But then (maybe you can tell) I thought better of spinning again after I called the L since I seemed to be heading back towards the bankrupt and figured I’d just solve. Panama! I told Pat as we threw to commercial here “I meant to call the Fs! Whoops!” And he said “Well your mind can move fast up here.” And Mandi interjected with “Seriously, Paul?! C’mon man!” Not a bad trip for a Spanish teacher to win!

Well you all know how Tossup 3 went. What a mess. With the replacement puzzle, again, I was just thinking “Crap! What would one eat with sauerkraut?!” I didn’t approach that puzzle the right way but oh well! Glad Mandi got on the board!

Round 4… I knew it when I took control. But I figured I’d keep spinning to try to get a little bit more. I came to play! I didn’t realize I had over 2K at the time I hit bankrupt until I watched it back last night. I figured as the round went on that there were only 2-3 letters left, so I’d spin and worst case scenario, Liz or Mandi would get a bit more (which ultimately Liz got the opportunity to solve from my decision so I was glad she got one under her belt!) As far as the discussion above is concerned, I don’t blame her for solving so she could get that one, but I was expecting her to spin twice to try to get more than the 1000. You have to play the way you’re most comfortable though!

Round 5: Had my first dud on the E. Oh well! Then when it got back to me, I did know it, but hit Lose a Turn, and ultimately the Final Spin Bells would decide who would win that round. Glad Mandi got a little bit more money! (Though I found it funny that at my final audition, HIGH SCHOOL SCIENCE TEACHER I kicked off the round with, and SCHOOL AUDITORIUM I didn’t get on the show! Funny how it works out!)

I gave Liz & Mandi a hug and Jackie took me over to the side, had some more water, and she encouraged me to use the ULB. Practiced spinning the BR wheel again, and then Pat came over to me before the cameras rolled. He gave me a really nice pep talk that I’ve kept with me these past few months. He told me that regardless of what would happen in the BR, that I showed I was a good player, and that I already had a great night. I’m grateful to him for saying that in advance because I’ve definitely thought about that a bit over the past couple of months… he’s a great guy!

So up popped the bonus round. When I saw the first word, I immediately thought WAIT, but then realized it could be WHAT (Mario: Nice job with GIFT as well. Didn’t think of that!) So I decided to call my letters G & H… but then this is where I got stuck for a second, and I couldn’t decide what to do. Whenever I play the video game, I always alternate between picking P & B. I went with P… which in this case was definitely the wrong call. Then with the Vowel… I wasn’t sure if I should pick the O or not because of the “TO.” But that puzzle this season “POP OPEN THE HOOD” popped back into my mind, and I decided to stick with it since O is always the vowel I pick to practice with (but for the record, I almost called I instead of O. That wouldn’t have helped much either ha).

Once the H showed up, I knew it was WHAT TO. But everything I could think of was either not the right amount of letters, or already had RSTLNE in it. (What to SAY was the first thing that came to mind, then came EAT, WEAR, and DO). I was originally worried about guessing words with RSTLNE but then I figured I’d try to talk a bit since sometimes things can spill out in the right way! That clearly did not happen. What to see & what to be. Haha. If you saw before they cut away for the 5K every day, I felt the need apparently to fling my limbs around a bit… but I was telling Pat “GAH! I couldn’t decide P or B!” And he said “Well, of course it’s easy once you’ve seen it to know what you should’ve called, but you had nothing there.”

As a sidebar on the Bonus Round, after the fact, I was disappointed I didn’t get puzzles like CUTE OUTFIT, BACK IN THE GROOVE, or AMONG THE BEST which went unsolved during Denver week. But then seeing Monday’s episode with BY NIGHTFALL killed me too since I had that with RSTLNE. But I am content knowing that the Bonus Round puzzles are really just a crapshoot… some are going to be easier than others, and some will be more obvious than others. Some bonus puzzles may even be easy depending on your own life experiences & sayings! (Like the GEOGRAPHY QUIZ given to the teacher a month or so ago!) “What to Buy” is not something I personally have ever said before, though when my friends & I went to Universal and went into a gift shop, I walked around the store saying “What to buy, what to buy, what to buy?!” Haha. I’ll never forget that now! But when I’ve played the video game, I haven’t gotten every puzzle thrown at me, so I knew that not getting the Bonus Round on the show was a distinct possibility. To be honest, I am just so happy at how the entire night went, that while the Bonus Round would’ve been some pretty sweet icing on the cake, I genuinely can’t complain (Aside from the third tossup. Haha) The whole experience just surpassed all of my expectations, and I am just so grateful and thankful to have even had the opportunity to get to play!

Of course, getting to speak with Pat & Vanna at the end of the show was awesome. (Hooray for the long credits haha). If you saw Pat leaning over laughing, it was because when I walked over there, he apologized for calling me a bully on national television (from him, I’ll take that as a huge compliment!), and I said to him something like, “Oh it’s fine Pat, you just destroyed my reputation as being a nice person on national television. So thanks for that!” We talked about how I watched this show since I was a kid (Vanna said: “And it paid off!”), how I watched the show with my sister who wanted to be there that day (they sent their greetings), and then I asked them, “What week are you taping tomorrow?” Neither one of them had any idea (“Though we should know!” said Pat). I got more congratulations from both, shook Pat’s hand, and then asked Vanna if I could give her a hug (“Of course you can!”) Pat said he’s been doing this for 33 years and still hasn’t gotten a hug from her. Haha!

And that was it! The whole experience was nothing short of awesome, amazing, & brilliant. I’m so thankful to the contestant coordinators for amping us up the whole day & encouraging us, to all former contestants (both on BAV and off) who gave me advice, to my friends & family for putting up with the roller coaster, to the wheel staff for being nothing short of incredibly kind the entire day (her name’s escaping me, but the sound woman with the microphones also climbed Kilimanjaro I found out after the fact!), and to my fellow contestants for being great people to know & play with. It couldn’t have been a more amazing experience.

I remember during my game with Lee and Lisa that Gary O'Brien came to talk to the three of us and when we went to commercial after I solved the Food and Drink puzzle for the $10,000 Mystery Wedge, Gary was like, "Hey, way to go, Eugene!" I also remember sweating a little bit, so they had to get the make-up people to put some more of it on me before we began the next round.

Finally caught up on my DVR. Great job COWheelfan! P.S. I have a lightweight crush on Mandi now.

It was me, you are very welcome!

Is there any mistake about the episode? I don't have the opportunity of asking to the former contestants very often