Post by btromano11 on Oct 21, 2014 17:30:54 GMT -5
Application:
I received an email through work (I'm in the Coast Guard) that WOF was looking for members of the military to participate in Military Families Week. I figured I had nothing to lose and put in an online application. A few weeks later to my surprise I got an email to audition! (after hearing what many have had to do to even get an audition I definitely got a "fast track" to this point in the process) I was living in San Diego at the time and my sister was in Las Vegas so a trip to the LA area was perfect adventure for a day. We really had no expectations going in and just wanted to have a fun unique experience.
Audition Day:
We get to the hotel on audition day along with about 80 other people (40 teams of 2) and grab a seat as close to the front as possible. The contestant staff goes over how the audition will go and my sister and I go over a quick strategy for calling letters/solving, etc. We were around the 10th team called and stood up to give it our best. To say that we did well would be an understatement! We were both loud, clear, called good letters and solved the puzzle! (and won a signed picture of Pat and Vanna!). We sat back down and instantly our expectations went from "let's just have a good time" to "holy crap we could actually get on the show!" They made their way through the rest of the teams and then start calling on groups again. We didn't get called for a while and were hoping it was because we did so well the first time. As they got to the end we could tell they were done seeing who they wanted to see but an unsolved puzzle was still on the screen so they called our names again to finish it out. We performed just as well and solved the puzzle again! (got a WOF hat this time!). At this point we were sure we would at least make the cut. Next came the test which went horribly! As quickly as our game performance brought us up our test performance brought us right back down (I think I got 4/16 plus a few odd words/letters in other puzzles). As we waited for the contestant staff to make the cut a few teams came up and said they thought we would move on. We also found out at this point that everyone did as poorly or worse on the test which gave us some hope. The contestant staff came back in and announced the 9 groups that would move on. We were one of them! Next came the mock full version of the game and we continued to do really well. Everything finished up they said we would find out if we were selected for that show or put into the contestant pool within 2 weeks. Leaving that day we were convinced that we would get on.
Two Weeks Later:
Nothing from WOF! Three weeks pass, still nothing. A month, still nothing! One thing that we though might be against us was that I was fairly new to the military, had not deployed overseas, etc. Basically I wasn't a good story for TV. At the very least we thought we would get picked for the contestant pool though! As the weeks went on it became clear that our WOF experience would be limited to the fun audition we had. I remember watching when Military Families Week aired and selfishly thought "How did that group get on?!).
Over Two Years Later:
After hearing nothing from WOF since August 2012 (when the audition was), earlier this month we both received calls/emails from WOF that they wanted us to be on Secret Santa Families Week that tapes Oct 16th!!!!!! We quickly cleared our work schedules (less than 2 weeks notice to go to LA
) and eagerly awaited our time to be on the show!!!
Show day update to come after air date Dec 8th!
I received an email through work (I'm in the Coast Guard) that WOF was looking for members of the military to participate in Military Families Week. I figured I had nothing to lose and put in an online application. A few weeks later to my surprise I got an email to audition! (after hearing what many have had to do to even get an audition I definitely got a "fast track" to this point in the process) I was living in San Diego at the time and my sister was in Las Vegas so a trip to the LA area was perfect adventure for a day. We really had no expectations going in and just wanted to have a fun unique experience.
Audition Day:
We get to the hotel on audition day along with about 80 other people (40 teams of 2) and grab a seat as close to the front as possible. The contestant staff goes over how the audition will go and my sister and I go over a quick strategy for calling letters/solving, etc. We were around the 10th team called and stood up to give it our best. To say that we did well would be an understatement! We were both loud, clear, called good letters and solved the puzzle! (and won a signed picture of Pat and Vanna!). We sat back down and instantly our expectations went from "let's just have a good time" to "holy crap we could actually get on the show!" They made their way through the rest of the teams and then start calling on groups again. We didn't get called for a while and were hoping it was because we did so well the first time. As they got to the end we could tell they were done seeing who they wanted to see but an unsolved puzzle was still on the screen so they called our names again to finish it out. We performed just as well and solved the puzzle again! (got a WOF hat this time!). At this point we were sure we would at least make the cut. Next came the test which went horribly! As quickly as our game performance brought us up our test performance brought us right back down (I think I got 4/16 plus a few odd words/letters in other puzzles). As we waited for the contestant staff to make the cut a few teams came up and said they thought we would move on. We also found out at this point that everyone did as poorly or worse on the test which gave us some hope. The contestant staff came back in and announced the 9 groups that would move on. We were one of them! Next came the mock full version of the game and we continued to do really well. Everything finished up they said we would find out if we were selected for that show or put into the contestant pool within 2 weeks. Leaving that day we were convinced that we would get on.
Two Weeks Later:
Nothing from WOF! Three weeks pass, still nothing. A month, still nothing! One thing that we though might be against us was that I was fairly new to the military, had not deployed overseas, etc. Basically I wasn't a good story for TV. At the very least we thought we would get picked for the contestant pool though! As the weeks went on it became clear that our WOF experience would be limited to the fun audition we had. I remember watching when Military Families Week aired and selfishly thought "How did that group get on?!).
Over Two Years Later:
After hearing nothing from WOF since August 2012 (when the audition was), earlier this month we both received calls/emails from WOF that they wanted us to be on Secret Santa Families Week that tapes Oct 16th!!!!!! We quickly cleared our work schedules (less than 2 weeks notice to go to LA
) and eagerly awaited our time to be on the show!!!Show day update to come after air date Dec 8th!
That must've been quite a painful wait for you two, though. Either way, congrats on getting the call! We'll be looking forward to seeing you two on TV and cheering you on! 
