Melissa W

Melissa W

Theme Week:
Season Premiere (Las Vegas)
Contestant:
Melissa W
Hometown:
Las Vegas, NV
Week of:
September 14, 2009

Posted 09-16


July 17th, 2009. The day my life changed. I arrived at the Venetian right on time for the Wheel of Fortune game. I couldn't believe I was going to have a chance to win a million dollars, meet Pat and Vanna, and be on national television! I had never been so excited in my life. All of the contestants went through all the rules throughout the day and practiced spinning the wheel. We had makeup artists, which I thought was fantastic! I loved how they did my makeup. We also had wonderful people telling us how to call the letters and how important it was to call vowels. Everyone was so gracious and great to talk to.

I was chosen to go up second for my taping. There was five tapings that day. I was happy about that since I missed my ten month old daughter who was with her babysitter. My mom, stepdad, husband, brother-in-law, and mother-in-law all came to see the show. I remember Pat and Vanna looking amazing when they walked out. I got the second toss up and a couple puzzles. I won the prize puzzle for a trip to Maui for 7 days. This was awesome because my husband and I never got a honeymoon, so this was it! Then the last puzzle came up and the contestant on my left and I were each pretty close to winning. I immediately knew the puzzle after 3 letters…Jenniffer Love Hewitt!!! I won the show! Now it was on to the final round. I had a wild card which I was amazed about. I got it at the beginning of the show and didn't hit bankrupt the whole time so I got to keep it. I chose a few letters and almost the whole puzzle was solved for me. It was only missing the v and a. TV ANCHOR, I said. It was right!!! I figured I had won $25000. When we opened the card it said $50000!!! I COULDN'T BELIEVE IT! My family came running up to me and my mom was yelling, "You did it Melissa!". I knew right then I'd be able to do what I'd wanted to do for so long. Pay off my truck, and give my family and friends some money to do what they want with it.

I was so in shock all day after the show I felt sort of nauseous and tired. The next day I woke up though and felt amazing! It was real! I have to extend my gratitude to all the staff and Pat and Vanna for giving me and everyone else on the show this opportunity. This really was a once in a lifetime opportunity and a dream come true.

As a closing I'd like to say when I was about 5 or 6 years old, in school we had to do a book report on a famous person. It could be anybody in the world. I chose Vanna White to do my book report on. I always imagined myself doing something like she does; Being the perfect model for a television game show while changing lives. Well, I was pretty close. I was on her game show and my last name is White!



Posted 09-14


I found out the Wheelmobile was coming to Las Vegas, my home town, and I was ecstatic! I'd always wanted to be in the Wheel of Fortune game show since I was a little girl. I remember thinking, "When I'm eighteen I'm going to be on that show!", and eight years later was my chance. I went to every audition on every day. I finally got my name picked on the last day! Whew! I knew I did really well and had a great feeling I'd be called for a second audition. After a few weeks of waiting the phone call came and I made it to the finals. I went with the intention of making it on the show. I did very well on the test, which I felt was pretty hard, and made it into the final group of people to possibly be chosen. So for the nest few weeks I waited again. Anxious and excited the whole time! I expected to hear a call by July 1 so when it didn't come I initially gave up. July 7th rolled around and a call finally came saying I was going to be on the show! I ran around my house yelling and calling all my family to tell them. I could barely speak I was so excited!

The miraculous thing about this is that the day I was chosen at the first audition I was supposed to be out of town, but my computer quit working so I couldn't buy the tickets for the conference I was going to. The day I got my computer working was the day I received the information the Wheelmobile was coming to town, and I immediately knew I had to go and try out. Thank you for this opportunity Wheel of Fortune!