May 19, 2017 recap (Michelle)

I know they're legit but vowel-heavy bonus round puzzles almost seem unfair.

Pardon the double post, but you know what's ironic? That Final Spin puzzle (TOUGH ACT TO FOLLOW) was used as the BR that gave us the first of three perfecto weeks in season 28 - and the winner won a trip to Chicago. Which makes what happened tonight doubly painful.

They used SNOW WHITE not long ago as a Toss-up puzzle (4/4/17).

Would've been better to have seen VANNA WHITE SOX.

This was a good week!

^I also remember BLUE JAY LENO as a B&A.

UGH!! I screwed up!! The opportunity to do great in this game presented itself and I failed to take advantage.

TU1-It came to me just as Todd rang in; I probably should've had it sooner.
TU2-As soon as the Q showed up in SEQUELS I knew the first word and when the P popped up for the second word I figured it out. I remember thinking, "Don't forget the S at the end!"
R1-If you look back at my posts you'll see that I committed my own biggest pet peeve of contestants; and I shall never judge again. I'll get back to that in a minute. My spin pattern was very predictable. I saw that I was going to land on the MDW. I decided to try and give my spin a little extra oomph. Well, clearly that didn't work out. And now I'll never know if I would've landed on the ONE MILLION. When it got back to me and I landed on the Free Play, it took me way too long to come up with R. They edited it out, but Pat had to tell me to hurry up. I was horrified. I should know better! I should have my letter ready; I should know what I want to do! Seeing the show I realize I remember things differently than how they happened. For example, I thought I solved after I picked up the gift certificate. I think landing on the FP without any vowels being left may have thrown me, but really it shouldn't have; there's no excuse. That's why you hear me apologize to Pat-if you heard it. Once the R's showed up, the puzzle came into focus as whole. Not the fact that there were still letters missing LIKE TWO G'S (this being my pet peeve, leaving multiples. I even vowed on a previous post to NOT do that)!! And I made the very quick, rash decision to solve-the wrong decision. I never even looked at where I was on the wheel. My spin pattern would've landed me on the WILD or $2500. It's sickening.
R2-I never even looked at where I was on the wheel so I never had a chance to adjust my spin and avoid LAT.
R3-The round that will stay with me forever. I immediately started to pay attention to where Todd was landing on the wheel. Bad idea. When he called T my first thought was that the second word ended in TION. So I decided I'd call N and then I and O. Great idea right? I have my letters ready, what could go wrong? When Pat tells me I'm up, I have this little freak out moment inside that I HAVE A CHANCE AT THE PRIZE PUZZLE!!! I spin, looked at the used letter board and call...S??? Where the hell did S come from? I was going to call N!!!!!!!!!!! What happened!? My heart just sank. The rest is history because it was all downhill from there.
TU3-I just never saw DOLLARS.
R4-Never got to me
R5-I had this puzzle a number of times while playing the mobile game. There's no excuse. I should've had it.
I could've given you guys 5/5 in the BR. I immediately thought it was OUT OF, so my letters would've been FB either G or P and my vowel was going to be O no matter what. F? you say. I know it is against the advice on this board but when practicing for the BR I found that picking a letter I already thought was in the puzzle usually helped me out somewhere else in the puzzle as well. I'm sure there are odds on this but that was just my experience and my plan going in.
If someone said to me, "Hey Michelle, you're going to get on WOF but you're going to screw up your game play and walk away with $5500, do you still want to do it?" Well of course my answer would be YES! I tried for about 15 years to get on WOF (I'll post my spinning story later). I realize my outcome could have been much worse. I just know that if I had gotten my nerves under control it would've been so much better. I am so grateful to the contestant coordinators for picking me and wish I had expressed this more to them that day.

I appreciate it.  I know what I hope to see in a contestant and I failed to perform as I hope to see others perform.  I'm fairly realistic about it I think.  But now I know why people may make the mistakes they make and can sympathize.  I keep telling myself to just be happy I made it on the show!  I realize that is a big WIN in and of itself.