How I Made $39,000 on Wheel of Fortune

Yes, I write now about ways to work toward FIRE, or how to make extra money (at present, I’m not doing so great on either front).  But one way I have found to make extra money is one of those pie-in-the-sky ideas that people likely write off without a moment’s consideration.  Yes, I am one of those lucky few who have won some extra spending money on a game show.  In my case, that show was Wheel of Fortune.

Why Even Try For A Game Show?

As I said, most people probably don’t seriously consider trying to get onto a game show.  And, to be honest, perhaps I didn’t consider it too seriously at first either.  But I did grow up a fan of such shows (I’m not ashamed to say that one of my favorites was Press Your Luck*).  As far back as I can remember, I was watching those shows…you know, when I wasn’t watching The Electric Company.  (I am in my 40s, after all.)  Hey, what else was I going to watch, General Hospital?

After Jeopardy! returned in 1984, my young self got the idea into my head  that it was the show on which I wanted to appear.  I even had received, as a Christmas or birthday gift, something called the Jeopardy! Challenger, a little toy that allowed me to play along with the game and keep score as I went.  (And, yes, it played the theme song.  Kinda.)

Yes, this was a real thing. It occupied many an afternoon for me back in the 80s.

After many afternoons where, away from the lights and the stress and the other contestants trying to ring in before I did, and armed with my Challenger and a fair amount of teenage naiveté, I beat the winning contestant, I was even more sure that this was the show for me.

Submitting My Info

I suppose that stayed with me into my adulthood, since I was always quick to register when the show offered its annual online test.  (They offer it about once a year – you’ll want to check the Jeopardy! website to find out when it’s coming next.)

Well, one year I had a disappointing online test, and I knew I hadn’t gotten enough questions correct even to be considered.  As you might expect, I was more than a little frustrated at having my bucket list item snatched away from me yet again.

And a new thought occurred to my formerly one-track mind: why keep such a narrow focus?  Why only try to get onto only one show?  And the next show which popped into my head was the sister show of Jeopardy!, Wheel of Fortune.

The website for Wheel of Fortune, as it does today, contained a section entitled “Be A Contestant”.  I filled out a form and, knowing that they get lots and lots of submissions, promptly forgot about it.  Sure, getting on a show like that would be great.  But how likely was it to happen?

The Invitation

Almost a year and half later, for whatever reason, I was checking my junk mail folder.  (Hey, why not?  You never know what might be in there.)  And in the midst of the usual spam was a message with a subject line in all caps about a Wheel of Fortune audition in my city of residence.  I opened it (again, why not?  Yahoo, my provider of choice at the time, wouldn’t have let anything bad execute out of the spam folder) and found that it was quite legit; there was indeed going to be an audition, by invitation only.  I guess it was a good thing I submitted that form!

The Audition

And so, a couple of weeks later, I left work early (thanks to an accommodating boss) and went to this swanky resort hotel out in the Hill Country, northwest of Austin.  It appears the Wheel of Fortune folks were having multiple sessions, each of which had about 75 people max.  I recall little detail about this point, but I’m pretty sure we were peppering those people coming out of the session before ours in hopes of getting some sort of idea of what to expect.

Eventually, we were all seated, and then the fun began.  It started with a written test.  Yes, Wheel of Fortune gives written tests at their auditions.  It seemed simple enough; 12 (I think) partially filled-in puzzles, and all we had to do was complete them in five minutes.  I didn’t finish all 12.  Then, while our tests were being graded, we started playing very informal mock games, which included one of our emcees (Pat and Vanna were not there, as you might have guessed) with a little vertical spinner wheel.  Those who solved the puzzles during this portion received some little swag item.**  I solved one and felt pretty good about myself.

So Far, So Good

In what was probably the least comfortable part, names were called to determine who got to stay for the next part.  The rest were thanked for coming.  There was a break, and then the more serious mock games began.  Those selected to play each game stood up front, mimed spinning an imaginary wheel, played a puzzle or two, and, oh yeah, did the interview.  They told us and told us that the interview was the hardest part, but just to act natural.  Or, at least act as natural as one can when your heart has just gone to ludicrous speed.

Either just before or just after another break, the emcees said they wanted to see a few of us one more time.  I probably would have felt better about this development had I not started to feel the effects of the norovirus, or whatever it was, that would keep me home the day after all this.  Nevertheless, I stood up there one more time and, if I remember correctly after several years, had to answer another interview question.

And that was it.  We were told that if we were selected to be a contestant on Wheel of Fortune, a letter would arrive in about two weeks.  I still felt pretty good about most of the audition, but I really wanted to get home and sleep off whatever I had contracted.  (It didn’t help that the swanky resort hotel was absolutely nowhere near my house.)

The Letter and the Email

As it turned out, I didn’t have to wait two weeks to hear back.  Eight days after the audition, a letter showed up with the Wheel of Fortune logo on the envelope.  I had made it into the contestant pool, and sometime within the next 18 months, I was to expect to hear from them again with more information.  As I was fully recovered by then, there was more celebration in our household for this.

Again, I continued through life without thinking much of Wheel.  It would happen when it happened, right?  In the meantime, there were lots of things to take my mind off of the show.  (The biggest thing was the birth of another child.)  Well, about six weeks later, another email appeared in my box.  My tape date was to be later that month.  Now the nerves hit.  This was really happening.

And – thanks to my wife having just had a baby – she wouldn’t be coming with me to the taping.

The sight that greeted us at the studio.

Before the Taping

I arrived at Sony Pictures Studios early that morning, as the email had instructed me to do.  There was a little area in the parking garage which I assumed was where I was supposed to wait.  This assumption was bolstered when I encountered one of the other people from the last segment of my Austin audition; obviously, the last portion was the people the organizers really wanted to consider.

Eventually, 20 of us (18 contestants and two alternates) were led into a room, where we stayed for most of the morning.  We were briefed on what to expect, how to behave (clap a lot!), and what sorts of puzzles we might encounter.  We also got to rehearse the promos we were all going to have to do for our local station.

At one point, Vanna White popped into our little room to say hello and wish us all well.  I, for one, appreciated it; she certainly didn’t have to do that.

Onto the Set

Finally, we got to see the studio.***  As with most studios, it’s much smaller in person than one would think from seeing it on television.  The wheel itself was also smaller than I imagined it.  We got to practice spinning it; it’s about as heavy as one would think.  And, of course, we all recorded our promos.  (I never did see mine.)

Then, the first bit of fun began.  We got to play mock games on the real set, so we could feel comfortable with everything.  Pat and Vanna weren’t there for the mock games, but everything else felt just like it would when we did the real episodes a couple of hours later.

What viewers at home do not see during an episode of Wheel of Fortune is the constant reminders from our eternally cheery contestant coordinator (at the time the coordinator was Jackie; whether or not she is still there, I couldn’t say) to be excited, to be loud, and to clap a lot.  It would have been difficult for anyone not to be smiling when you were around Jackie on the set.

Final Preparations

We did have to leave the set again before the tapings, though.  There were drawings to be done:  for matchups; for positions (red, yellow, blue); and for taping order.  My group got the first taping of the day.  I think I probably would have wanted that; otherwise, the nerves might have gotten to me a bit more.

And, of course, there was the makeup.  There is a lot of makeup that has to be applied before you go in front of an HD camera.  They don’t want your face to be overly glossy on TV, obviously.

Oh, wow, we’re actually doing this

Not long afterward, I found myself standing at the red position.  The audience had now arrived and was watching all of us.  The crew adjusted the heights of our platforms so that we would all look about the same height.

This was an anniversary season, so the first thing we saw was a flashback clip playing on a monitor.  Right after that, Jim Thornton announced Pat and Vanna, and we were off.  This was our first time to see Pat Sajak, but we didn’t have time to think about that, as we launched right into the first toss-up, which I answered, giving me the opportunity to get the interview out of the way first.

Pat, during some of the prize announcements, did a great job of keeping things light for us.  I imagine there have been a lot of nervous people on that stage in the 36 or so years he’s hosted, but from what I could tell, we were all at ease during our episode.

I got the second toss-up as well, giving me the first opportunity to spin the wheel.  Without going into too much detail, I will point out that the first round was what is called a “perfect round”.  The wheel was very, very good to me in that round, and I never relinquished control.  Oh, and it was a jackpot round, which I hit, and I got a half-car.  And I had been worried I would fail epically on television.

What you don’t see

During the commercial breaks, Jackie was there to remind us to keep clapping and stay excited.  We were also given a lot of water; when you’re yelling letters, you don’t want to lose your voice.  Oh, and eventually they told me to tone down my clapping, believe it or not.  Apparently I was clapping too close to the microphone.

Seriously, the wheel was very good to me

As we were preparing to come back from commercial, Pat said something along the lines of “I hope you don’t mind, but we’re going to let someone else spin the wheel now.”  After my first round, I wasn’t going to complain about anything at that point.

The second round was not as good to me at first; my first spin (once it was my turn once again) landed on “Lose a Turn”.  However, control got back to me once more in that round, and with most of the board filled in, I hit the second half-car space.  And, just like that, I had won myself a car.  Granted, it was a Smart Fortwo (which, as at least one of my friends joked, is kinda half a car anyway), but I wasn’t complaining.

The wheel was not kind to my opponents, one of whom hit bankrupt no fewer than three times.  It liked me, though, and I solved the third round puzzle as well, earning myself a trip for two to Ireland.

Obviously, with those wins and prizes, I was headed to the bonus round.  Unfortunately, my bonus round puzzle was what some fans call a “forced loss”, meaning that it was intended to be brutal.****  The prize I had spun for the bonus round was a Mazda Miata, but, as Pat said, “He’s already won a car!”  In all, my cash and prizes totaled over $39,000.  Not bad for 30 minutes’ work.

A couple of last things to do

After the taping for my episode ended, I was escorted to a room where I had to fill out and sign some paperwork, not the least of which was a form so that the State of California could withhold some taxes.  Oh, well, you take the good with the bad.

With that part overwith, I was able to return to the studio to watch the rest of the episodes of my session tape.  Jim Thornton, who was doing audience warm-up between shows, had me come over for a much less stressful interview than the on-camera one I had done half an hour before.

And, all too soon, it was over.  I was driving away from the studio, still amazed at how blessed I had been.

After the taping

Of course, my episode wouldn’t air for another four months, so I had to keep my mouth shut about what happened on the show.  Finally, though, we had a lot of friends over to the house to watch the episode.

Another four months later, another envelope from Wheel of Fortune showed up in my mailbox.  And there it was, a check for the cash winnings (minus California’s pound of flesh).  A few days after that, a car carrier pulled up in front of my house, and a Smart Fortwo was unloaded.  I started it up and took a little test drive.  Oh, and I was amazed to see the odometer reading “6”.

Taken right after it was delivered – you can still see the car carrier across the street.

Eight months after that, just before my window to do so closed, my wife and I took a trip to Ireland, which was amazing.

Final thoughts

I think I got everything that happened on my tape day in order.  At least, it’s as close as I can get to what really happened.  Obviously, I’ve left out some details on purpose, such as the names of my opponents, as well as the actual puzzles I solved (or didn’t).

Because this isn’t necessarily about me.  It could be about you.  Why not try to get onto a show yourself?  Do you think it could never happen?  Well, so did I.

And yes, I am still trying to get onto Jeopardy!

* It’s coming back this summer. And yes, I’m excited.
** No, I don’t remember what it was. A pencil, maybe? It’s been a while…
*** We did walk past the door to the Jeopardy! studio. Some of us asked if we could look in, but we were told we hadn’t earned our way in there. True story.
**** Such puzzles are not impossible to solve. Just ask my online friend Emil and his “NEW BABY BUGGY”.
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