Picking up from yesterday –
There was a small part of me that considered just solving the entire puzzle literally before spinning the wheel, because I thought that would be a really fun, silly moment – and that Pat would probably have something to say about it. And I thought it would make for pretty good TV.
Plus, I felt like I was on fire after the first two toss-ups. So, I was ready to just call out another puzzle!
However, a few reasons I didn’t do that (in no particular order):
1) The contestant coordinators tell you all the time not to be in a rush to solve, and that if there’s a consonant left with multiple instances, to at least try to spin until you get that.
[Of course, they may have changed their tune if the other option was someone doing a solve with no letters on the board, because that woulda been cool. But I didn’t really think about the fact that there might be an asterisk to their advice – even though I should know that there’s always an asterisk to all advice ever, and also, like kinda who cares what they prefer while you’re up there – it’s your game at that point haha *shrug*.]
2) This could be the only time I’m in control of the Wheel for the first 3 main puzzles! I’m with some good players. I won’t get to start the 2nd or 3rd puzzle. I need to bank aaaaall the money I can right now, because if Ben lands on express, and I’ve got a total of $4,000 in the bank, I’m screwed.
3) This was a HUGE puzzle. There were EIGHTEEN instances of consonants on the board! Sometimes puzzles are preeeeeeetty short. Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth! There’s a LOT of potential money on the board. Go grab it.
4) It’s been a dream of mine for a LONG time to play Wheel of Fortune. So play. Spin the wheel. Enjoy it.
So, as you’ve probably seen by now, I got Lose A Turn which was a big bummer. I was worried Steve was gonna spin a few times, but he just spun once (even though there was still another multi-consonants left (S)). He only landed on $500. So, I was still in the lead after the first puzzle.
Granted, he knew he’d start the second puzzle. So, I’m sure that played into his decision in some ways.
Now, I feel like most people out there (who I’ve talked to at least) live somewhere in between “solve when there are no letters” and “solve when there are all the letters” [which is kind of what I’ve been acting like is my only option – because, to me, it kind of was my only option (ish, haha)].
Basically, I kind of said this above, but because I knew Express could potentially be in play, and that a trip would definitely be in play [ironically, these things were in play for me, but they could’ve been in play for Ben!], and I wanted to win the game, I only felt comfortable if I could pad my lead by at least $10,000.
Thankfully, I had a long enough puzzle to potentially make that possible – if I could do it.
Sure, $5,500, or whatever exactly I had, woulda been nice. But you want to win. That was my main goal during the game part – WIN.
You want to be a Wheel of Fortune champ (for the pride) – and also, of course you want your chance at the bonus round!
So, I was playing not to make as much money as possible, but to win. [Those are sort of one and the same goals, but they are slightly different.]
So, that was that. Ain’t no way I was stopping ’til I either reached 10 grand, won the trip on the board, or ran out of letters – whichever came first.
Although, I will say now, seeing how the game panned out, of course I wish I would’ve gone for it, because you only live once! And what a potential viral moment!
It almost felt like it was sort of meant-to-be (which I’ll get into on the behind the scenes posts). So… I regret it now, but that’s because I have hindsight. Had I done it, but then Ben got the 3rd puzzle, and I went home with like $8,000 (after my toss-ups), I’d be kicking myself.
So, I would say you live, you learn. But there’s not really anything to learn. I just did the best I could with the information I had at the time. *shrug*
So, on to the second puzzle we go!