Wheel of Fortune Audition

For better or for worse, my life is rarely dull.  Luckily, I get to talk about something fun that happened to me today, in contrast to the negative crap I've been dealing with lately!  A couple of months ago, I saw a plea from Wheel of Fortune for fans in the Dallas area to submit applications to be on the show.  It was called Face of the Fan, and you had to submit a short video introduction of yourself.  (I believe you can still apply, here, by the way).  I jumped at the chance, because I've wanted to be on Wheel of Fortune for years!  To my surprise, I got an email a couple of weeks ago that said I was selected for a contestant audition, which was by invitation only.  I had to call a number and RSVP that I could make the audition, and then eagerly wait for the big day!

When I arrived at the Adolphus Hotel today, for the audition, I was in a room with about 50-60 other people.  The day started with each of us being asked to stand up and call a couple of letters in a puzzle on a big screen at the front of the room.  It mimicked the real game, in that if we called a letter that wasn't up there, our turn was over.  We were able to call vowels, or solve the puzzle if we knew it, but if we called a few letters in a row without solving, they would say we lost a turn or went bankrupt so that other players could get a chance.  We went through a ton of puzzles, so that everyone had ample time to stand up and play.  The contestant coordinators were looking for us to speak clearly, loudly, and show enthusiasm.  They also wanted us to think quickly and select logical letters.  If someone took too long, they would buzz you and move on.  After that process, they gave us a written quiz.  It had various puzzles on it, partially filled out, and we had 5 minutes to try and solve as many as we could.  (I think I did pretty well on that part!)  After that, the coordinators left the room for about 20 minutes to discuss the applicants.

When they came back in, they told us they would be reading off the names of people they'd like to stick around.  If your name wasn't called, the audition was over for you, and you wouldn't be selected for the show this time around.  Can you believe my name was called?  Ack!  I was pretty excited.  I'd say only about 30 names were called, so the room got a lot smaller!

From there, we came up to the front of the room in groups of 6 and played mock rounds of Wheel of Fortune.  We spun an imaginary wheel and acted just like we would if were on a real episode.  I got to solve a puzzle, so that was exciting!  In this part of the audition, again, they were looking for us to speak loudly, smile often, get excited, and play smart.  After the 6 of us played a few rounds, we then introduced ourselves to the coordinators.  It was similar to the beginning of the episode when Pat interviews the players.  After all 30 of us completed this, the coordinators spent a little more time discussing us.  They then asked 5 of us to return to the front and play another couple of rounds.  I was one of those 5!  Maybe they didn't see enough of me in the earlier rounds and wanted to make up their mind about me.  Hopefully that means I am actually under consideration!

At this point, it was almost 1pm and we had been there since before 10am.  It was about time to leave, but the coordinators surprised us by saying that they had some last minute openings for a taping in California next week.  They announced 3 people's names right then and there!  How exciting for them.  They'll be flying out and get their shot on the show next Thursday!  As far as the rest of us, if we will be invited to a taping, we should find out in about 2 weeks, via mail.  I'm holding my breath!