Wheel of Fortune Live! - 11/09/22

Soo.... This wasn't supposed to happen. I am 3000 miles from home. I was supposed to be attending a taping of a daytime game show (the one that doesn't have costumes) but unfortunately they had to cancel on me on my last minute. (don't worry about me, I've been rescheduled!) The Wheel of Fortune Live! Instagram page was offering a giveaway of 5 pairs of tickets for tonight's show to 5 lucky winners. I had entered on a whim as I didn't really have plans for today and ended up winning a pair! The show was about an hour away from where I'm staying so a drive on the 405 and 101 was in order. With all the preamble out of the way, you know how everything goes. Clay Aiken does the thing, Kalpana Pot does the thing, and Dave Styles does the thing. 

I can start off by complaining heavily about the venue. Registration started promptly at 5. I had to pick up my tickets at will call from the box office, which didn't open until 6. The box office and the venue was behind a security checkpoint, which was allowing VIP guests to go into the lobby before the spin the wheel package was ready, but did not allow anyone else past, including those who needed to go to will call. Once the box office opened we were allowed to pass the security checkpoint, and by that point it was very cold, around 50 degrees, which while is normal for this time of year in PA/NY, is a little unexpecting in beautiful sunny California. After a stop at will call my party snuck into the lobby to warm up a tad and check out the merch store. After taking maybe three steps towards the merch store, which was fully staffed, about 5 members of the security staff came over and not so politely asked us to leave the lobby as were weren't VIPs and weren't allowed to be in the lobby this early. It was 6:15 at this point. After being graciously allowed to check out the merch store (I bought a bib for my cousin) we were forced back out into the cold. 

I got to meet and talk with a few interesting people, and I got to see some even more interesting people walk by. With this being the closest show to Culver City there were some rather recognizable names to Wheel fans. Bob Goen was in attendance, as were a few Sony executives and the Executive Producer of the mothership, Bellamie Blackstone. 

Bob Goen was also having issues with the venue, as despite being clearly marked as a member of the production staff, the ushers refused to let him in early to join the production crew. He was in the lobby trying to get in and was told to head somewhere, which he did, and then returned back to the lobby 10 minutes later. Eventually he just started repeating "I am with the show, I need to speak with the producers." and was let in by an usher.

We take our seats a little late, and Dave comes out a little late, as per usual. Same warmup as the last two shows. Dave introduces Kalpana and has her say a few words. She brought two friends to see her, who were seated in the middle of the venue towards the back. Not the best seats in the world, but not that bad.

One more time for good measure: I was politely asked by the production staff of the show to not share puzzles or archive them in any way as they might reuse them in the future. I totally understand this request and will be complying with it. I mean it. No puzzles will be spoiled in this report, partially or fully revealed. Please do not ask for them.

Round one starts off with an incredibly drunk set of contestants. Clay dishes out some great snark including the line "I'm drunk too, it's the best way to play the game, I've found." After watching these contestants play, I wish I was drunk too. Yellow contestant was a big drunk guy who kept taking his phone out to take selfies while playing the game. I was a little surprised a production member didn't come out and take it away from him. His wife was seated in the front row and was **very** drunk and she was heckling everyone the entire night. She also didn't seem to understand the concept of "no help from the audience" as she kept providing suggestions rather loudly. Final spin time rolls around and the yellow player has control. He spun the wheel before Clay could start giving his speech, which Clay then tries to quickly adjust, but as the words were coming out the contestant reaches down and physically stops the wheel with his hands. I (and every other self-respecting Wheel of Fortune fan in the building) audibly gasped. Clay didn't know what to do at first, and then ended up telling him to just spin it again. Needless to say he did not win the game.

Dave comes out, calls three more names and plays some puzzlers in this block of time, while Clay and Kalpana go backstage and relax. 

Clay forgets to put his shoes back on after the first break and walks out in socks, which is only slightly worse than the sneakers he had on during game one. The red contestant for this game is an older woman who appeared to have Parkinson's or something along those lines. She did not have a designated spinner. She nabs the first toss-up which was filled in with all but two letters, and she was the only player to buzz in. That set the mood for the second game. She grabbed the wheel and gave it as good of spin as she could manage, which was about 3 spaces, right into the $10,000 wedge. She called a correct letter and spun the wheel again, this time landing on the 1500. After calling a dud, Clay realized he forgot to have her pick up the $10,000 wedge and put it on her Wedge Ledge™ so he just had the yellow player pick it up and hand it to her. It was nice seeing the artwork, which I can only describe as "like the mystery wedge but green." Unfortunately I couldn't nab a picture of it as it was too high up on the Wedge Ledge™ for it to be in frame for the projector shot. After her turn was finished control continued to our yellow player, who started off by spinning the wheel backwards. The big Wheel fanatics gasped again and production ruled it as "not a valid spin" and had her spin it again. It landed on Bankrupt so she got lucky it didn't count. She called an off the wall letter and lost her turn. Blue player's turn to come up and she admits flat out that not only has she not seen Wheel of Fortune, she hasn't even heard of it. Clay briefly explains what the show is with some snark "This is the wheel. It is the wheel... of fortune." and she spins the wheel. A few spins later she tries buying a vowel after spinning the wheel. She ends up calling the last consonant in the puzzle, which by that point almost everyone knew what it was. She fumbled the bag by leaving out an "AND" as she skipped the ampersand, which is one of the weirdest ways I've seen the "AND" rule come into play. The red player claimed her $10,000 wedge but was overtaken in the last round by 300 points.

After Game 2 Dave comes out with three more names and HOLY CRAP FINALLY WE GOT SOMEONE WHO'S SEEN THE SHOW!!! Hi Joshua if you're reading this, I have a feeling you might be. After saying he was laid off from his job on Friday, he ended up cleaning house during game three after having some trouble with the wheel. Not much to write home about in this one other than a contestant repeatedly trying to buy consonants. 

Intermission time. **FINALLY!!** As much as I love Wheel and as fun as it is to play along, to have to sit through four full games is honestly excruciating. I step out to the bathroom, find an empty seat a few rows closer to the stage than my original ticket, and enjoy the championship match. Intermission ends with a new montage of puzzle solving clips which I believe was taken directly out of the 3000th show (possibly 4000, it's 1am Pacific and I woke up at 6am) 

Wedge game time, which is not the "audience wins a keychain" game like last time. This was just burning some time as the playing contestants competed for $50. Red won which was okay by me even if I had a yellow band as it doesn't matter.

Championship match starts with the wheel looking extra snazzy. Newer sparkling wedges were made recently and really enhance the importance of them visually. One player swept this game amassing over 22,000 points and moved on to the bonus round.

The bonus round was won this evening with the contestant getting extra lucky with the top prize of $5,000. This is the second Wheel of Fortune Live! show in a row where the top prize was won. Will they tie the show's record and have three wins in a row? Find out on November 12th in Brooks, CA! 

That's going to be all from me. It's super late and I'm still super jetlagged. I've had an absolutely crazy day today but with everything the live tour provided a consistently fun and entertaining show. If the show wasn't good, I wouldn't've seen in three times already! New dates for the next leg of the tour are starting to roll out, so check again if it's coming to your area! 

With this being show #3 for me, I doubt I'll see another for a while. You're only allowed #4 within a period of a year. So unless I get yet another set of comped tickets, I'll be enjoying the television show from the comfort of my own living room. Sorry for the third dissertation length post, but tonight's show was a whirlwind.

Once again if anyone has any questions (other than puzzles) do feel free to leave them in the replies, I will answer everything to the best of my ability!