acwof's Bizarre Journey to Wheel of Fortune (LONG POST)
Aug 8, 2020 10:11:52 GMT -5
Prizes, germanname1990, and 7 more like this
Post by acwof on Aug 8, 2020 10:11:52 GMT -5
Hi, everyone This is acwof.
As promised in my episode recap, I said that I would share about my experience about being Wheel of Fortune with you all. I’ll try to keep my write-up as brief as I can, but as a fanfiction writer, I like to make my write-ups sound like stories, so my apologies if I become too long-winded. Without further ado, here is acwof’s “bizarre” Wheel of Fortune experience.
My journey to the famous Wheel started in March 2018. I was looking up the famous Wheelmobile to see if it was making any nearby stops for auditions. Luckily for me, the Wheelmobile was stopping in my region on April 2018 in North Carolina, just two states away from me. (I was living in Georgia during this part of the journey.) At the time, I thought that this would be as close as I could get to the Wheelmobile, so I wanted to take the opportunity to try and audition. Luckily for me, my sister, who lives in Maryland, was expecting her son around the same time as the Wheelmobile event. After going to Maryland to see my sister and her baby boy the same week as the Wheelmobile event, I made a weekend getaway to North Carolina for the Wheelmobile event.
I knew that it would be difficult to even get an audition since hundreds of people attend these events, and only a small handful get to actually audition. There were two Wheelmobile events that weekend, so I did have lots of chances at being one of the lucky ones to audition. If you read about my Wheelmobile experience from two years ago (click here if you haven’t), you would know that luck was on my side when I was selected to audition at the second of the two Wheelmobile events. I’ll let you read how that happened in the link above.
Several months after my Wheelmobile audition, during the week of Labor Day, I received an email for a follow-up audition back in North Carolina on September 2018. After booking a night at the hotel where the follow-up audition would take place and making travel arrangements for the audition, I got a call from one of the contestant coordinators saying that the audition was postponed because of a hurricane, and that the audition would be scheduled at an undetermined time. This is when my journey would start to become “bizarre”.
Fast forward to late February 2019, I received another follow-up audition email, again taking place in North Carolina, on March 2019. Like before, I made travel arrangements and booked a night at the same hotel, and this time, the final audition went on without another hitch. Read here about my final audition experience.
Two and a half weeks after my follow-up audition, I received the coveted acceptance letter that let me know I was in the contestant pool. Of course, I was very excited to receive the letter. Now, all I had to do was wait for a tape date. Little did I know that my patience was about to be tested from that point on, and the journey was truly going to be “bizarre”.
Fast forward to early November 2019. I had already moved from Georgia to North Carolina, and not long after updating Wheel of Fortune with my new address, I received an email with a tape date for November 21, 2019 (my father’s birthday) for “On Holiday” Week. I immediately accepted the tape date, and received a FedEx package a few days later with lots of information about tape day. Unfortunately, I received my tape date just days before Pat Sajak went into surgery. Needless to say, a week before my tape date, I received a phone call from one of the contestant coordinators who was working with me on this process, and they told me the tape date was cancelled. They put me back in the contestant pool, and would contact me with another tape date when one was available. Can you see where this is getting bizarre?
A few months later, in mid-February 2020, I just came back home from a dentist appointment, and I saw in my email inbox another tape date from Wheel of Fortune for “UK Getaway” Week at the end of the month. Like before, I accepted the tape date, received the same FedEx package, and this time, I was finally able to tape without anymore delays.
My experience on tape day was, for the most part, the same as everybody else’s. For example, we got to meet Vanna before we started taping, we were briefed by a lawyer, etc. The groups were pre-determined ahead of time, and a member from each group picked a ball out of a bucket to determine tape order (Angela picked for our group, and chose the “1” ball, so we went first). We then drew tiny balls out of a tube to determine podium color (I chose “2”, so I got yellow).
Since my group went first, we didn’t get to watch any shows beforehand. I will now share my thoughts, from the first Toss-Up to the Bonus Round.
$1,000 Toss-Up: Toss-Ups are my weakness when it comes to Wheel of Fortune. I had no clue what this puzzle was, even when Larisa rang in to solve.
$2,000 Toss-Up: The first of many puzzles that I solved. Even though I was content with making it on the show, I was hoping to solve at least one puzzle. When I solved this puzzle, I felt more relaxed with playing the game.
Round 1: When I landed on the Scotland trip, I thought I had landed on Lose A Turn, but I was looking at Angela’s flipper, and not mine. Pat had to correct me, and this was edited out of the episode. When I solved, I didn’t realize about the 2 “M’s” that were still in the puzzle. Since I had the Scotland trip and some cash, it was probably best for me to solve, anyway.
Round 2: I’m not a big fan of the Crossword Puzzle. I’m kind of glad I didn’t have a turn this round because I probably would have screwed up and said “and” if I tried to solve. I’m glad Angela solved because it got her on the board.
Round 3: Since this was the Prize Puzzle Round, I knew that if I solved, I would extend my lead by a lot, and if Angels or Larisa solved, it would become a tight match. When I solved, I did leave 3 T’s on the board, but it was the Prize Puzzle, so like Round 1, it was best for me to solve since it meant another nice prize to add to my total. Not only that, but to secure the Million Dollar Wedge, too, since at that point, I had such a huge lead, that Angela and Larisa could only catch up with the Triple Toss-Ups and a $5,000 final spin (maybe even a $800 or $900 final spin).
Triple Toss-Ups: Toss-Ups are my weakness for two reasons. I either jump too soon, like on the second of the three Toss-Ups, or I’m not fast enough, like the third of the three Toss-Ups when Larisa just beat me to it. At least I solved the first of the three, and Angela and Larisa each solved one, as well.
Speed-Up Round: Yes, I realize that I left 6 L’s on that puzzle, but I didn’t even know the puzzle when it was turn to call a letter. When it was my turn to guess a letter, I guessed “S” because it was logical to call at that moment because of the comma, and the “T” was already called. I also didn’t know what the puzzle was until that eleventh hour, when they give you a few seconds to solve. I could have waited to see if control went back to me, and hoped that Angela or Larisa would not call L, but I was in the heat of the moment to solve when I knew it at the last second. I was quite surprised that the judges accepted my solution, even though I rushed saying it. We had a stopdown so they could verify, and although it wasn’t acknowledged in the Bonus Round, they did accept my solve, so everything remained the same.
Bonus Round: Believe it or not, JACKALS came to me first before WOLVES. While calling my letters, I thought about previous Bonus Round puzzles, and randomly thought of HOWLING WOLVES used in Season 35, and that’s when the light bulb went off in my head. This happened after I called “H”, but before I called “P”. The moment after I solved and before Pat opened up the envelope sure was tense, especially since I took the Million Dollar Wedge into the Bonus Round. It may not have been the million, but the car is a nice prize, which I am keeping, by the way.
My episode was supposed to air in April 2020, but a month before the week the episodes were supposed to air, I received an email letting me know that the episodes were delayed, and would air several months later. Obviously, they did not air at that time because of COVID-19. This was already a long journey for me, so it was really frustrating for me to have to keep my winnings a secret for longer than intended.
Thankfully, the episodes finally aired at the beginning of August, and after my episode aired, I started receiving lots of followers on Twitter, friend requests on Facebook (that I still need to sift through), and even got a highlight reel on Wheel of Fortune’s Youtube channel. I saw lots of positive tweets about me (and a few negative ones), and surprisingly, just one or two Pokemon references, from all social media posts combined.
It was definitely a bizarre journey to get on Wheel of Fortune, with delays in every step of the process. I probably waited longer than I needed to in order to get on the show, but if there’s anything I’ve learned from this experience, it’s that patience truly is a virtue, and that good things do come to those who wait, even if they have their patience tested beyond their limit.
I want to thank you all for your support, and a big thanks for all of the kind words after watching my episode. I also owe a big thanks to everyone that works on Wheel of Fortune for making this an experience I’ll never forget.
I also want to thank you all for reading (or skimming) this incredibly long post.
Since I said that I write fanficiton, if you would like to read my stories on the fanfiction website, here is a link to my profile and stories. Don’t worry, moderators, reading my stories are completely free. If this needs to be deleted, though, please let me know.
Again, thanks for reading! I hope to be on more game shows in the future, but for now, I need to take a break from the spotlight. For at least a year, anyway.
- acwof
As promised in my episode recap, I said that I would share about my experience about being Wheel of Fortune with you all. I’ll try to keep my write-up as brief as I can, but as a fanfiction writer, I like to make my write-ups sound like stories, so my apologies if I become too long-winded. Without further ado, here is acwof’s “bizarre” Wheel of Fortune experience.
My journey to the famous Wheel started in March 2018. I was looking up the famous Wheelmobile to see if it was making any nearby stops for auditions. Luckily for me, the Wheelmobile was stopping in my region on April 2018 in North Carolina, just two states away from me. (I was living in Georgia during this part of the journey.) At the time, I thought that this would be as close as I could get to the Wheelmobile, so I wanted to take the opportunity to try and audition. Luckily for me, my sister, who lives in Maryland, was expecting her son around the same time as the Wheelmobile event. After going to Maryland to see my sister and her baby boy the same week as the Wheelmobile event, I made a weekend getaway to North Carolina for the Wheelmobile event.
I knew that it would be difficult to even get an audition since hundreds of people attend these events, and only a small handful get to actually audition. There were two Wheelmobile events that weekend, so I did have lots of chances at being one of the lucky ones to audition. If you read about my Wheelmobile experience from two years ago (click here if you haven’t), you would know that luck was on my side when I was selected to audition at the second of the two Wheelmobile events. I’ll let you read how that happened in the link above.
Several months after my Wheelmobile audition, during the week of Labor Day, I received an email for a follow-up audition back in North Carolina on September 2018. After booking a night at the hotel where the follow-up audition would take place and making travel arrangements for the audition, I got a call from one of the contestant coordinators saying that the audition was postponed because of a hurricane, and that the audition would be scheduled at an undetermined time. This is when my journey would start to become “bizarre”.
Fast forward to late February 2019, I received another follow-up audition email, again taking place in North Carolina, on March 2019. Like before, I made travel arrangements and booked a night at the same hotel, and this time, the final audition went on without another hitch. Read here about my final audition experience.
Two and a half weeks after my follow-up audition, I received the coveted acceptance letter that let me know I was in the contestant pool. Of course, I was very excited to receive the letter. Now, all I had to do was wait for a tape date. Little did I know that my patience was about to be tested from that point on, and the journey was truly going to be “bizarre”.
Fast forward to early November 2019. I had already moved from Georgia to North Carolina, and not long after updating Wheel of Fortune with my new address, I received an email with a tape date for November 21, 2019 (my father’s birthday) for “On Holiday” Week. I immediately accepted the tape date, and received a FedEx package a few days later with lots of information about tape day. Unfortunately, I received my tape date just days before Pat Sajak went into surgery. Needless to say, a week before my tape date, I received a phone call from one of the contestant coordinators who was working with me on this process, and they told me the tape date was cancelled. They put me back in the contestant pool, and would contact me with another tape date when one was available. Can you see where this is getting bizarre?
A few months later, in mid-February 2020, I just came back home from a dentist appointment, and I saw in my email inbox another tape date from Wheel of Fortune for “UK Getaway” Week at the end of the month. Like before, I accepted the tape date, received the same FedEx package, and this time, I was finally able to tape without anymore delays.
My experience on tape day was, for the most part, the same as everybody else’s. For example, we got to meet Vanna before we started taping, we were briefed by a lawyer, etc. The groups were pre-determined ahead of time, and a member from each group picked a ball out of a bucket to determine tape order (Angela picked for our group, and chose the “1” ball, so we went first). We then drew tiny balls out of a tube to determine podium color (I chose “2”, so I got yellow).
Since my group went first, we didn’t get to watch any shows beforehand. I will now share my thoughts, from the first Toss-Up to the Bonus Round.
$1,000 Toss-Up: Toss-Ups are my weakness when it comes to Wheel of Fortune. I had no clue what this puzzle was, even when Larisa rang in to solve.
$2,000 Toss-Up: The first of many puzzles that I solved. Even though I was content with making it on the show, I was hoping to solve at least one puzzle. When I solved this puzzle, I felt more relaxed with playing the game.
Round 1: When I landed on the Scotland trip, I thought I had landed on Lose A Turn, but I was looking at Angela’s flipper, and not mine. Pat had to correct me, and this was edited out of the episode. When I solved, I didn’t realize about the 2 “M’s” that were still in the puzzle. Since I had the Scotland trip and some cash, it was probably best for me to solve, anyway.
Round 2: I’m not a big fan of the Crossword Puzzle. I’m kind of glad I didn’t have a turn this round because I probably would have screwed up and said “and” if I tried to solve. I’m glad Angela solved because it got her on the board.
Round 3: Since this was the Prize Puzzle Round, I knew that if I solved, I would extend my lead by a lot, and if Angels or Larisa solved, it would become a tight match. When I solved, I did leave 3 T’s on the board, but it was the Prize Puzzle, so like Round 1, it was best for me to solve since it meant another nice prize to add to my total. Not only that, but to secure the Million Dollar Wedge, too, since at that point, I had such a huge lead, that Angela and Larisa could only catch up with the Triple Toss-Ups and a $5,000 final spin (maybe even a $800 or $900 final spin).
Triple Toss-Ups: Toss-Ups are my weakness for two reasons. I either jump too soon, like on the second of the three Toss-Ups, or I’m not fast enough, like the third of the three Toss-Ups when Larisa just beat me to it. At least I solved the first of the three, and Angela and Larisa each solved one, as well.
Speed-Up Round: Yes, I realize that I left 6 L’s on that puzzle, but I didn’t even know the puzzle when it was turn to call a letter. When it was my turn to guess a letter, I guessed “S” because it was logical to call at that moment because of the comma, and the “T” was already called. I also didn’t know what the puzzle was until that eleventh hour, when they give you a few seconds to solve. I could have waited to see if control went back to me, and hoped that Angela or Larisa would not call L, but I was in the heat of the moment to solve when I knew it at the last second. I was quite surprised that the judges accepted my solution, even though I rushed saying it. We had a stopdown so they could verify, and although it wasn’t acknowledged in the Bonus Round, they did accept my solve, so everything remained the same.
Bonus Round: Believe it or not, JACKALS came to me first before WOLVES. While calling my letters, I thought about previous Bonus Round puzzles, and randomly thought of HOWLING WOLVES used in Season 35, and that’s when the light bulb went off in my head. This happened after I called “H”, but before I called “P”. The moment after I solved and before Pat opened up the envelope sure was tense, especially since I took the Million Dollar Wedge into the Bonus Round. It may not have been the million, but the car is a nice prize, which I am keeping, by the way.
My episode was supposed to air in April 2020, but a month before the week the episodes were supposed to air, I received an email letting me know that the episodes were delayed, and would air several months later. Obviously, they did not air at that time because of COVID-19. This was already a long journey for me, so it was really frustrating for me to have to keep my winnings a secret for longer than intended.
Thankfully, the episodes finally aired at the beginning of August, and after my episode aired, I started receiving lots of followers on Twitter, friend requests on Facebook (that I still need to sift through), and even got a highlight reel on Wheel of Fortune’s Youtube channel. I saw lots of positive tweets about me (and a few negative ones), and surprisingly, just one or two Pokemon references, from all social media posts combined.
It was definitely a bizarre journey to get on Wheel of Fortune, with delays in every step of the process. I probably waited longer than I needed to in order to get on the show, but if there’s anything I’ve learned from this experience, it’s that patience truly is a virtue, and that good things do come to those who wait, even if they have their patience tested beyond their limit.
I want to thank you all for your support, and a big thanks for all of the kind words after watching my episode. I also owe a big thanks to everyone that works on Wheel of Fortune for making this an experience I’ll never forget.
I also want to thank you all for reading (or skimming) this incredibly long post.
Since I said that I write fanficiton, if you would like to read my stories on the fanfiction website, here is a link to my profile and stories. Don’t worry, moderators, reading my stories are completely free. If this needs to be deleted, though, please let me know.
Again, thanks for reading! I hope to be on more game shows in the future, but for now, I need to take a break from the spotlight. For at least a year, anyway.
- acwof
. Glad it all worked out so well! 