Being a contestant on the Wheel of Fortune is such a surreal experience! What makes it so surreal, I suppose, would be the very unlikely journey I took to get a chance to play. It was my grandmother’s idea after seeing an article in local newspaper: “Marcus, I know how to get some money for grad school!” I figured it’d be worth a try. After a two-day, six-session Wheelmobile event in Conway, Arkansas, my name wasn’t drawn for a chance to audition. I was heartbroken, but you know, I had tried and that was all I could control. Imagine my surprise when they really did keep all of the applications as they promised, drew my name from all of those thousands of applications, and emailed my invitation to the Arkansas final callbacks in Little Rock! The most exciting journey of my life had only just begun! :)
On the day of the taping, all the contestants finally arrived at Sony Studios and we began briefings on how the day would go… after a few notices and filling out paperwork (“I don’t know any one working for the show.” “I have not been on the show before.” “I really am who I say I am.” “Here is my firstborn.”), we were finally led onto the set. There she was in all her glory - the puzzle board, the Wheel, the cameras, EVERYTHING. The show I had watched for years finally seemed real. I had to pinch myself! I was actually in Los Angeles getting ready to play Wheel of Fortune!!
After a few practice runs getting our game voices ready and our spinning arms warmed up, it was time to head back for make-up and to select the contestants for each game and game order. First, let me spend just a moment here on make-up. The show is taped in High Def these days, so everything is magnified in excellent quality. It’s almost mortifying how excellent the quality is! Thank God for Make-Up! Also, I have always wanted to work in entertainment, so this was my little nibble of the celebrity treatment – believe me: I was eatin’ it up!
So, my make-up artist finishes her work, but still I had to go to the bathroom to check out what she’d done. It’s while I am inspecting the work that Vanna comes through to meet the contestants! Yes… that’s right… I MISSED meeting Vanna because I was trapped in the bathroom mirror! She was half the reason I was so stoked to play the game! I was devastated. “Just go on and send me home now,” I thought. But I had to shake it off… I needed to focus. If I play the game like I know how, I would have a chance to win and then I might get another chance to meet Vanna. That became my new goal. “I have GOT to meet Vanna!”
After make-up, we taped promotional spots for our shows to play on local stations. That was really exciting because, again, it was just a nibble of my dream in entertainment! They herded us back to the holding room, where we continued getting to know each other. I pause here to mention my fellow contestants – what an AWESOME group! I really enjoyed getting to know everyone and we all genuinely wanted the others to do well and leave with substantial amounts. Of course, secretly we all wanted to do just a tad bit better than our game show partners, but that’s part of the game, right?
Surprisingly, I wasn’t nervous at all until we got out there to tape our game, which was the fifth of the day… I had been doing so well watching the other contestants all day, so I felt ready… it wasn’t until we stepped out, the lights came on, my make-up started melting from my face, and the audience began the obligatory applause that I got a tad nervous. I just had to tell myself that the ladies playing on either side of me were just as nervous, so I just needed to live in the moment and soak in every second. The worst that could happen was I’d leave with $1000 and an experience of a lifetime. It was finally showtime! Here we go, baby!
==Stay tuned... The show airs on Friday, April 3rd. I'll update on the experience during and after taping!!==
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