Post by presidentbacon on Jan 12, 2017 21:59:34 GMT -5
Just posted this on my Facebook, figured I'd post it here too. Would love to get your take on it and any similar (or vastly different) experiences.
So with today (1/12/17) being the one-year anniversary of my episode airing, I figured it’s time I do a FAQ about the show, tips, my experiences, etc.
It's going to be about the show, more than the show, everything really. Btw, I tend to ramble, I tell everything like a story. Apologies for the length in advance. Hope you enjoy.
1. How did you get on the show?
The question I get asked the most and for good reason, it’s not something that happens every day. One of my good buddies and former Wheel contestant Eugene told me about a casting call/tryout event called a Wheelmobile event in September 2015 in Atlantic City. You put your name in a bingo-style random draw spinner machine thing (great description, I know) and they call your name, so there is no guarantee you’ll try out, but they do get through about 100-120 people per day. My name was lucky enough to be called on the second day, went up to compete with 4 other people during my “round”. We did a mock interview (“Pat chat”) and competed on the same puzzle, which I ended up being the one to solve. They emailed me 2 weeks later to Philly for a Final Audition where we played more Mock Games to get our playing style and to see how we would be on TV. There was also a written test. There were a total of 16 puzzles, 4 puzzles in 4 different categories and 5 minutes to get as many as you can. Average score is 9-10/16 and well, I got 14. Would have had 15 given another second but couldn’t come up with it in time. I got a phone call a week later from one of the Contestant Coordinators (CC’s) and I was invited to be on the show.
2. What’s Vanna like? Very nice.
3. No, but really what’s Vanna like? Okay fine, besides being very nice and helpful giving us tips, she was a regular person and it was great to see after being prepped for going on TV for a few hours, getting used to the puzzle, the wheel, seeing that Vanna was a regular person was comforting in a way. FWIW, when she came and talked to us, she was just getting to the studio in a sweatshirt and jeans, we all did a double take, like, “Oh, you’re you, oh hey.”
4. How did you do?
If you haven’t seen the episode yet, spoiler alert, not great. Wasn’t my fault. Never had a chance. Literally had one spin and it was a bankrupt. Not much you can do really.
5. Hardest part about the show?
Not realizing how much of it is luck-based. There was not a single letter called wrong for the entire game, 2 bankrupts were the only changes of turn. Someone check that, that might be a record. Other records or ties of records, 100% correct letters called, 100% me getting a bankrupt, neither of which can be beaten, only tied. You never know what the Wheel can do to you or the strength of your contestants. You have an idea but most everything goes out the window come tape time.
Also, knowing the puzzle and not being able to do a thing about it. Waiting for your turn to come is agonizing because you’re watching someone else gain money while they try and figure out a puzzle you already know. You never realize that enough until you’re there.
6. Controversy and What to Do?
The Prize Puzzle I knew fairly early on. (FUN & GAMES: A / _ N I _ _ E / E _ _ _ _ _ I _ N) is about when I knew it. It gets to a point later on where a contestant has spun, lands on 1/2 Car (already having the 1st 1/2) and is calling a consonant. Overcome with emotion, she takes an extended period of time to call a letter. She’s supposed to get 5 seconds, but it feels like she takes 9-10. She guesses the right consonant, solves the puzzle immediately after. What I should have done was notify a CC of my discrepancy in between rounds and they could review the tape, re-do the round.
Totals as they were: Monica: 5,200 Yellow: 44,000 Me: 1,000
Totals if I won round: Monica: 5,200 Yellow: 17,600 Me: 12,200
I didn’t because she was a single mom, and I felt I couldn’t take a Ford Fiesta and a Trip to Alaska away from this woman. I wouldn’t have won the car myself, but I would have won Alaska, but even so, I wouldn’t have enjoyed it as much knowing I took it away from her.
7. What it’s like after/What Changed
Got to make some cool friends out of it that I wouldn’t have been as close with otherwise. Got to go to Vegas for the first time last year with a bunch of them for the Trivia Championships of North America (TCONA) among other things which was amazing. We fared alright in the Pop Culture trivia but sucked in Quiz Bowl compared to all of the Jeopardy, The Chase, Millionaire players there. I had a Jeopardy Battle of the Decades Semifinalist knock me out in one game so that was pretty cool.
8. Future Game Shows?
I do eventually want to go on another game show. I just want to build up my trivia acumen a little more. I’m mediocre in some of the arts categories so I want to improve that first before I seriously considering going on another show. That said, I would absolutely be open to it.
9. Do I still watch the show?
Occasionally, but definitely not as much as I used to. I do feel the show has slipped in quality over the past year, both as far as puzzles-to-categories and contestant skill. It does make the show hard to watch.
10. Tips for Future Contestants
Get familiar with all of your sightlines, the used letterboard, where to look for the amount of money/trips you have. You don’t want to be distracted while you play, you want all of your focus to be on the puzzleboard, especially for the all-important tossups. One quarter-second cost me the game. Don’t let a distraction be your downfall. BE CONFIDENT AND BE YOURSELF. That last bit is really for all shows, game or reality, if anything just a slightly over-animated version of yourself but yourself nonetheless.
11. Best parts about being on the show
Definitely the friends I made from being on. I’d trade them for a trip to Alaska any day.
12. Social Media, Me, and Wheel.......
......Actually affected me 2 ways. When I tried out at the Wheelmobile event in AC, the travel host actually recognized me from my Twitter handle. So at the time, I played Wheel’s daily Twitter Tossup game and was unofficially in 2nd place for the year so my name was known by Wheel’s people. When they saw my name called, he asked me how the guy in 1st and 3rd were doing and had me do a promo for their game. That is definitely one of the main things that lead me to being on the show.
The other happened after the show aired and actually after Eugene, the one that told me about the Wheelmobile event, had taped his Pyramid episode in NYC. At a restaurant in the city, I pulled out my Wheel of Fortune nametag and put it above my lip, a photo was taken and thus the #Namestache was born. It became a hit among former and current players alike, even being used in Wheel’s official marketing campaign. Wasn’t how I thought I’d be used in their campaign originally but I’ll take it.
I’ve never been short with my stories so if you made this far, I thank you. Thank you for reading about a part of my life that meant so much to me and I hope it gave you a bit of insight and/or enjoyment. Anything else you need to know or want more clarification on, message me.
That said, Bacon out
So with today (1/12/17) being the one-year anniversary of my episode airing, I figured it’s time I do a FAQ about the show, tips, my experiences, etc.
It's going to be about the show, more than the show, everything really. Btw, I tend to ramble, I tell everything like a story. Apologies for the length in advance. Hope you enjoy.
1. How did you get on the show?
The question I get asked the most and for good reason, it’s not something that happens every day. One of my good buddies and former Wheel contestant Eugene told me about a casting call/tryout event called a Wheelmobile event in September 2015 in Atlantic City. You put your name in a bingo-style random draw spinner machine thing (great description, I know) and they call your name, so there is no guarantee you’ll try out, but they do get through about 100-120 people per day. My name was lucky enough to be called on the second day, went up to compete with 4 other people during my “round”. We did a mock interview (“Pat chat”) and competed on the same puzzle, which I ended up being the one to solve. They emailed me 2 weeks later to Philly for a Final Audition where we played more Mock Games to get our playing style and to see how we would be on TV. There was also a written test. There were a total of 16 puzzles, 4 puzzles in 4 different categories and 5 minutes to get as many as you can. Average score is 9-10/16 and well, I got 14. Would have had 15 given another second but couldn’t come up with it in time. I got a phone call a week later from one of the Contestant Coordinators (CC’s) and I was invited to be on the show.
2. What’s Vanna like? Very nice.
3. No, but really what’s Vanna like? Okay fine, besides being very nice and helpful giving us tips, she was a regular person and it was great to see after being prepped for going on TV for a few hours, getting used to the puzzle, the wheel, seeing that Vanna was a regular person was comforting in a way. FWIW, when she came and talked to us, she was just getting to the studio in a sweatshirt and jeans, we all did a double take, like, “Oh, you’re you, oh hey.”
4. How did you do?
If you haven’t seen the episode yet, spoiler alert, not great. Wasn’t my fault. Never had a chance. Literally had one spin and it was a bankrupt. Not much you can do really.
5. Hardest part about the show?
Not realizing how much of it is luck-based. There was not a single letter called wrong for the entire game, 2 bankrupts were the only changes of turn. Someone check that, that might be a record. Other records or ties of records, 100% correct letters called, 100% me getting a bankrupt, neither of which can be beaten, only tied. You never know what the Wheel can do to you or the strength of your contestants. You have an idea but most everything goes out the window come tape time.
Also, knowing the puzzle and not being able to do a thing about it. Waiting for your turn to come is agonizing because you’re watching someone else gain money while they try and figure out a puzzle you already know. You never realize that enough until you’re there.
6. Controversy and What to Do?
The Prize Puzzle I knew fairly early on. (FUN & GAMES: A / _ N I _ _ E / E _ _ _ _ _ I _ N) is about when I knew it. It gets to a point later on where a contestant has spun, lands on 1/2 Car (already having the 1st 1/2) and is calling a consonant. Overcome with emotion, she takes an extended period of time to call a letter. She’s supposed to get 5 seconds, but it feels like she takes 9-10. She guesses the right consonant, solves the puzzle immediately after. What I should have done was notify a CC of my discrepancy in between rounds and they could review the tape, re-do the round.
Totals as they were: Monica: 5,200 Yellow: 44,000 Me: 1,000
Totals if I won round: Monica: 5,200 Yellow: 17,600 Me: 12,200
I didn’t because she was a single mom, and I felt I couldn’t take a Ford Fiesta and a Trip to Alaska away from this woman. I wouldn’t have won the car myself, but I would have won Alaska, but even so, I wouldn’t have enjoyed it as much knowing I took it away from her.
7. What it’s like after/What Changed
Got to make some cool friends out of it that I wouldn’t have been as close with otherwise. Got to go to Vegas for the first time last year with a bunch of them for the Trivia Championships of North America (TCONA) among other things which was amazing. We fared alright in the Pop Culture trivia but sucked in Quiz Bowl compared to all of the Jeopardy, The Chase, Millionaire players there. I had a Jeopardy Battle of the Decades Semifinalist knock me out in one game so that was pretty cool.
8. Future Game Shows?
I do eventually want to go on another game show. I just want to build up my trivia acumen a little more. I’m mediocre in some of the arts categories so I want to improve that first before I seriously considering going on another show. That said, I would absolutely be open to it.
9. Do I still watch the show?
Occasionally, but definitely not as much as I used to. I do feel the show has slipped in quality over the past year, both as far as puzzles-to-categories and contestant skill. It does make the show hard to watch.
10. Tips for Future Contestants
Get familiar with all of your sightlines, the used letterboard, where to look for the amount of money/trips you have. You don’t want to be distracted while you play, you want all of your focus to be on the puzzleboard, especially for the all-important tossups. One quarter-second cost me the game. Don’t let a distraction be your downfall. BE CONFIDENT AND BE YOURSELF. That last bit is really for all shows, game or reality, if anything just a slightly over-animated version of yourself but yourself nonetheless.
11. Best parts about being on the show
Definitely the friends I made from being on. I’d trade them for a trip to Alaska any day.
12. Social Media, Me, and Wheel.......
......Actually affected me 2 ways. When I tried out at the Wheelmobile event in AC, the travel host actually recognized me from my Twitter handle. So at the time, I played Wheel’s daily Twitter Tossup game and was unofficially in 2nd place for the year so my name was known by Wheel’s people. When they saw my name called, he asked me how the guy in 1st and 3rd were doing and had me do a promo for their game. That is definitely one of the main things that lead me to being on the show.
The other happened after the show aired and actually after Eugene, the one that told me about the Wheelmobile event, had taped his Pyramid episode in NYC. At a restaurant in the city, I pulled out my Wheel of Fortune nametag and put it above my lip, a photo was taken and thus the #Namestache was born. It became a hit among former and current players alike, even being used in Wheel’s official marketing campaign. Wasn’t how I thought I’d be used in their campaign originally but I’ll take it.
I’ve never been short with my stories so if you made this far, I thank you. Thank you for reading about a part of my life that meant so much to me and I hope it gave you a bit of insight and/or enjoyment. Anything else you need to know or want more clarification on, message me.
That said, Bacon out