Jessica M.

Jessica M.

Theme Week:
Wheel Around The World
Contestant:
Jessica M.
Hometown:
Jefferson City, MO
Week of:
October 12, 2009

Posted on 10/13


Standing on the platform, hearing the music, and watching Pat and Vanna walk on stage made me realize that it was finally show time!  I was so nervous, but once the first puzzle came up I felt fine.  I am horrible at Toss-Ups and can’t even solve them at home so I wasn’t surprised when I stood there like a deer in headlights during the first two Toss-Up puzzles.  The contestants that I played with were such good puzzle solvers and I was a little worried that I wouldn’t solve anything! Luckily I had the wheel on my side! It came my turn to spin and I landed on the “Wheel Around the World” wedge!  I called a letter that was in the puzzle, picked up the wedge and ended up solving the puzzle!  I couldn’t believe it! I remember jumping up and down in shock!  I had won some money and a trip to Spain! I asked Pat if I could keep the prize wedge and he laughed and said, “That wedge cost more than your trip!” After winning that round, I thought to myself, “I could go home now and be happy!”  Somehow, I kept spinning and kept solving! I even landed on the $10,000 wedge, which my family and I had always debated about whether I should go for it or not! Thankfully, I only had a couple hundred dollars to gamble with so I knew I had to go for it! When I turned it over and saw the $10,000 I was ecstatic! Luckily, I solved that puzzle and got to keep that money! The prize puzzle turned out to be a tough one for me.  I just kept spinning and spinning, calling letter after letter, but I could not figure it out!  I’m pretty sure I was the only person in the studio who didn’t know it! I will definitely be one of those contestants on TV that you yell at!  Being on the show and trying to solve the puzzles is so much harder than you can imagine! You have to be thinking of what you are doing right then and at the same time thinking what you are doing next, while getting ready to spin the wheel and worrying about which letters you should call or which vowels to buy! There is so much to think about! But back to the puzzle, finally my light bulb came on and I solved it! The jumping up and down continued when Pat came over and told me I had won a trip to Miami! The time went by so fast and before I knew it the time for the final puzzle had arrived! I ended up going to the Bonus Round which was amazing! Of course the category was “Phrase” which I am horrible at! I called the best letters I could think of but unfortunately they didn’t help me out very much.   I threw out “Shaping Up” but that was my only guess.  It turned out to be “Squeaking By” which probably would have never come to my mind even if I had stood there for the entire day!

After the show ended I was in shock! Everything had gone by so fast that it was hard to believe that all of that just happened! The best part was being able to share the day with my family! I think they were in more disbelief than I was! I called my boyfriend and friends and they couldn’t believe it! I had to tell the story over and over but I didn’t mind, the more I told people the more real it became!  Even though I was so tired that night I couldn’t fall asleep because I couldn’t stop replaying the day over and over in my head!

I’m not sure what I will do with the money I won!  I have awhile to think about it so I will probably spend it over and over in my head before I actually buy anything!  I am most excited about my trip to Spain that I will take with my boyfriend! The entire experience, from the Wheelmobile event to being on the show in LA, was once in a lifetime and one that I will never forget! I am truly grateful for everything! Thank you Wheel of Fortune!



Posted on 10/12


Each day after classes my roommates and I would always watch Wheel of Fortune.  It was towards the beginning of May when we started seeing commercials about the WheelMobile coming to Branson, which is about forty five minutes from where we attended college.  We all talked about how fun it would be to go to the event, so we made plans to go!  The morning of the event arrived quickly and we all piled into my car and traveled to Branson.  At the event, they called people up in groups of five to play a puzzle.  I started to get nervous when I realized that each person called on stage had to talk about themselves for a few minutes!  I am terrified of public speaking and usually try to avoid it at all costs! It was the about the fourth round when I heard my name called!! Of course, my friends were going crazy screaming and pointing at me. I excitedly ran up and took my place on stage. The round went by so quickly and before I knew it I was headed back to my seat.  After the session was over I was still in disbelief that I had been lucky enough to be called up on stage out of about a thousand people!  The funny story that my roommates and I had planned to tell everyone had become a whole lot more interesting!

I checked my e-mail almost every day hoping to see the e-mail from Wheel of Fortune inviting me back for try-outs.  Finally, around the end of May I received the e-mail I had been waiting for! The try-out flew by and the coordinators said if I were chosen to be on the show, I would receive a letter in the mail in two weeks.  Every day I ran to the mailbox to see if the letter was there.  I was at my boyfriend’s house when I my phone started ringing, it was my dad.  He said the letter had come from Wheel of Fortune! I was freaking out and I had him read it to me twice!  It sounded pretty official so I figured he wasn’t making it up, that’s when I realized that this was real!

The letter said that it could be up to eighteen months before I would be called to be on a show so I figured I would be waiting awhile.  Imagine my surprise when I got a call from my mom saying that Wheel of Fortune called! It had only been a little over a month since I received my letter! They wanted me to come out for taping in mid-August!  I couldn’t believe it!

I knew this was a once in a lifetime opportunity so I had to practice as much as I could! When I wasn’t working I was continuously playing Wheel of Fortune online.  I also found the old handheld Wheel of Fortune game I had from when I was younger.  I even tried to look up common phrases (I was so bad at the phrase puzzles!)

I was very fortunate that my family was able to come out to Los Angeles with me.  We arrived in LA a day early, which gave me time to relax before the big day!  The coordinators spent the morning going over all the rules and answering all of our questions.  They are such amazing people and made us all feel so comfortable!  Vanna popped in to wish us well, and we even had our makeup done! About an hour before the show taped we practiced spinning the wheel.  Although it seemed smaller than on TV, it was so much heavier than I could have imagined! My first spin didn’t even go all the way around! Next thing I knew we were drawing to see which show we would be on.  My group got show number one!  I was a little nervous but eager to get started.  Before I knew it, it was show time! I remember watching Pat and Vanna walk out and thinking, “Wow! This is really happening!”  Tune in on October 12 to see how I did!