Post by sananman on Dec 23, 2019 15:09:35 GMT -5
Hey all, just discovered this forum and wanted to introduce myself and give a little backstory. I've been a fan of WoF since way back in the Shopping Spree days, but I've also been fortunate enough to have been a contestant on the show. Original air date was December 9, 1992, and video clips of my adventure against the Wheel is below. Yours truly is in the blue position:
My audition story was just as much fun for me. The local station that was airing Wheel at the time was sponsoring a contestant search that was coming to town, and they asked people to send in postcards (remember those things?) in order to be picked for the cattle call. Now like I said, I was a long-time fan of the show and considered myself to be really good at it, so I sent 50 postcards to make sure at least one got drawn, and sure enough it did. When I got to the area where they held the cattle call, they were dividing the applicants into groups of about 100 people, give/take. The selection process went pretty much like it does today -- we started off with the written test which had a bunch of partially-completed puzzles and we only had like 10 minutes to "solve" as many as possible, with partial credit being given for answers. The contestant coordinators came back later and majorly culled the group down to about 30 people or so, and I was still in it. Then they challenged each of us to a mock introduction session, like the kind the contestants give on TV. At the same time, they had the portable "wheel-on-a-whiteboard" that let us play some mock games, as the coordinators randomly called on us to see how we fared. I somehow managed to solve two puzzles during that process, and my confidence was feeling high. The coordinators took a break, came back later and cut the remaining group down to 9. I was still in! I was really feeling my stride at that point as the coordinators split the 9 into groups of 3 for a more realistic mock game. And I kicked some butt in my mock game. We had about 3-4 puzzles and I solved most of them, including a speed-up round (Final Spin) puzzle.
Sure enough, a couple on months later I get that wonderful letter from Merv Griffin Enterprises congratulating me on being a contestant. We flew out to California on my own dime, but fortunately we had some friends of the family that lived in the Los Angeles area and they put us up for the time we were there. All in all, I think we spent about $600 or so on the airfare (remember, this was 1992 prices), and won a little over 5 grand in cash after taxes. I'd call that a really good expense to profit ratio.
I can talk forever about the experience at CBS Television Studios (where Wheel was being taped at the time), seeing all the props from other shows like Price is Right and Bold and Beautiful, meeting the legendary voice of Wheel Charlie O'Donnell, and all the other things I experienced, but this is where I'll call it for a day.
Much respect to all the WoF vets here on the board, and I look forward to meeting/seeing everyone soon.
My audition story was just as much fun for me. The local station that was airing Wheel at the time was sponsoring a contestant search that was coming to town, and they asked people to send in postcards (remember those things?) in order to be picked for the cattle call. Now like I said, I was a long-time fan of the show and considered myself to be really good at it, so I sent 50 postcards to make sure at least one got drawn, and sure enough it did. When I got to the area where they held the cattle call, they were dividing the applicants into groups of about 100 people, give/take. The selection process went pretty much like it does today -- we started off with the written test which had a bunch of partially-completed puzzles and we only had like 10 minutes to "solve" as many as possible, with partial credit being given for answers. The contestant coordinators came back later and majorly culled the group down to about 30 people or so, and I was still in it. Then they challenged each of us to a mock introduction session, like the kind the contestants give on TV. At the same time, they had the portable "wheel-on-a-whiteboard" that let us play some mock games, as the coordinators randomly called on us to see how we fared. I somehow managed to solve two puzzles during that process, and my confidence was feeling high. The coordinators took a break, came back later and cut the remaining group down to 9. I was still in! I was really feeling my stride at that point as the coordinators split the 9 into groups of 3 for a more realistic mock game. And I kicked some butt in my mock game. We had about 3-4 puzzles and I solved most of them, including a speed-up round (Final Spin) puzzle.
Sure enough, a couple on months later I get that wonderful letter from Merv Griffin Enterprises congratulating me on being a contestant. We flew out to California on my own dime, but fortunately we had some friends of the family that lived in the Los Angeles area and they put us up for the time we were there. All in all, I think we spent about $600 or so on the airfare (remember, this was 1992 prices), and won a little over 5 grand in cash after taxes. I'd call that a really good expense to profit ratio.
I can talk forever about the experience at CBS Television Studios (where Wheel was being taped at the time), seeing all the props from other shows like Price is Right and Bold and Beautiful, meeting the legendary voice of Wheel Charlie O'Donnell, and all the other things I experienced, but this is where I'll call it for a day.
Much respect to all the WoF vets here on the board, and I look forward to meeting/seeing everyone soon.