Aurora's Blog

Well, this has been pretty surreal, actually writing all these posts!

There have been so many times where I thought “didn’t I already say that?” And I looked back and I hadn’t actually quite said it yet. (And I’m sure there are things that I did say more than once.)

I think I’ve talked about Wheel so much like before the process, through the process, and after to friends and in my head and whatever, that I hardly know up from down anymore when it comes to Wheel of Fortune haha.

So, I sincerely hope I gave you the play-by-play you wanted [if you cared about that], and answered any burning questions you had! [And hopefully I didn’t repeat myself too much on anything.]

If you have any questions at all, please always feel free to drop them in the comments. Thanks a million!

Thoughts on Auditioning.

Thoughts on Gameplay.

A little Bonus Advice.

[I’m gonna be adding some stuff in here about winning trips too. If I don’t, please remind me.]

And let me know if you have any other questions. Thanks so much!

I had a weirdly very specific experience at Wheel of Fortune that I thought I’d at least mention a little, since some people were curious – and that is that we taped on kind of the ‘last normal day’ in the world pre-pandemic.

I taped Wheel of Fortune on March 13, 2020 – the day many people remember as the “last normal day before the pandemic.” For many people, this was the last day they went to work.

To my knowledge, this was the last Wheel tape day before the pandemic (though they may have had one or two the following week before the mayor’s order officially came down, but I thiiiiiink we were the last ones).

And it’s a little surreal to think about now. It was fairly simple. We didn’t even have masks yet! We didn’t know anything!

Contestants did have to sign papers that we weren’t having any symptoms, and I think they also said we hadn’t been out of the country in the last two weeks.

And there was no audience except for our guests. But what was funny was that they sat everyone right next to each other, so the audience would still look full for the camera, but it didn’t help the people, as no one was social distancing or anything.

And we weren’t allowed to touch Pat or Vanna, so if you noticed any slight awkwardness at times you’d expect him to shake our hands or anything, that’s why.

I most definitely wanted to hug him when I won the trip. And I got the sense he would’ve been up for a hug, or at least a handshake. Even though he can be a little sarcastic and make fun of people a little sometimes (as you’ve all seen on the show), underneath it all, he seems pretty warm! So, I got the sense he wanted to shake our hands and stuff. But alas, no touching. Of course, now that seems so silly, because us breathing on him is worse than handshaking. But we didn’t know anything at the time!

The funniest part of it all, to me, was people talking about what they thought was to come. And some of the backstage Wheel of Fortune people were just talking about how obviously they weren’t gonna shut down. Some places might, but not Wheel of Fortune – an institution. They’d figure it out.

Little did we know!

We were all so naive back then.

But yeah, so some precautions. Some innocence. Some rumblings of what was to come. It was a little weird, but not sooooooo different from a normal day, I don’t think.

Well, we are basically done following along on my Wheel of Fortune journey. I may have a few more posts about it, but we’ve pretty much covered it all. And thank you for coming alone with me!

I know that it is beyond extraordinarily unlikely that I will ever in my life get to play Wheel of Fortune again – especially because right now, the rules dictate I can’t.

Once you go on once, you can never go on again.

Now, there are outside possibilities – like, conceivably I could maybe become a celebrity at some point, and get to play celebrity Wheel of Fortune (because I’m guessing in a special circumstance like that, they probably let you play again if you’ve played as a normal person before).

Also, when Bob Barker retired from The Price is Right, they changed the rules so that if you’d been on in Bob’s era, you could now come on with Drew. (The official rule is you have to wait 10 years since your first appearance.) And now Drew has been on for so long, you could’ve been on in Drew’s era, and still come back.

So, perhaps when Pat Sajak retires, they’ll change the rules.

Like, things are always possible… but… unlikely.

I also kind of worry the Wheel of Fortune people hate me, but I didn’t like destroy set pieces or act like a complete jerk. I just had a toddler moment when winning the game. But I don’t think I was mean to anyone per se. So, I think the insecure narrative in my head that they hate me is probably not super accurate. 😉 (Hopefully!)

I do wish they did the Jeopardy! thing, where if you win you just keep going. Can you imagine if I’d been able to keep it together, and play multiple games? [And the insanely ridiculously long blog series of breaking them all down.]

It really wasn’t toooooo bad of a game. I mean, I got the Express Wedge, and the trip, which was an absolute dream. So, if I never get my “redemption,” it could certainly be worse.

And I think the idea that lightening would strike twice – that I could have a theme week that made the puzzle so obvious that I could solve it with no letters, and that I’d happen to be in control of the board at that moment… That’s super unlikely. So, I’ll probably never get that moment back (although again you never know).

I did the best I could with what I had, and where I was in life that day. And that’s all you can ask for, I suppose. I’d love to play again, but with how fickle games of chance are, you never know if it would go better. So, I’ll just try to enjoy the time I had… And go on my sweet, sweet trip!

After talking so deeply about everything, I think my last real piece of advice is one I didn’t take but looking back on it, would try to now (I think).

I think game shows are really meant to be fun.

I’ve talked at length about wishing I’d gotten the viral moment of solving a puzzle with no letters. And while I do let that regret get at me sometimes, I would’ve looked reeeeeeeal stupid had I done that for funsies, and not won the game.

But yes, I think we should be playing to win. But we should be playing to have a good time!

And those are quite interchangeable. But you gotta take the pressure off.

You can’t view it as all the money it could be. Too much pressure on it is gonna take away the confidence, which is gonna make you worse at the game, and have less fun.

And my whole life, I’ve hated when people are like “just go out there and have fun” ’cause I’m like “winning and having fun are synonymous! How can you have fun if you don’t win?!”

But first off, I think Ben had fun, and he didn’t win. He had a good vibe though!

And secondly, there are lots of ways to “win” – there’s having a fun viral moment by showing off solving a puzzle with no letters. That could’ve been a ‘win’ in and of itself, even if I hadn’t won the game.

So just… No pressure. Just take the pressure off.

I’ve gotten this type of advice with a lot of things in my life. I went to a marathon talk once where an Olympian said the race is the reward. The training was the hard part. The race is the celebration.

Same with an improv class I did. The final performance was basically a ‘final exam’, but it was also supposed to be a reward/celebration.

So, if you’re on Wheel, you’ve studied your butt off… The game the reward/celebration. Have the best time playing!

Okay, I’m already getting slightly rusty, because I haven’t watched since my episode taped.

And I did make a few errors on my show, so take what I say with a grain of salt. But since people ask, since I’m geeeeeeenerally pretty good at Wheel of Fortune, I’ll give you the strategies I do have.

1. Know your “definites”

   So, the things that are definitely there. If it’s “what are you doing,” ING is in that puzzle. Start with some combination of those letter. If you’re doing “song & artist,” BY is in that puzzle. Call Y & B in whatever order makes sense.

2. Know your ‘oftens’

   “location” and “vacation” show up a lot in the 3rd puzzle. I haven’t done the actual math/data, but it seems like S in general shows up a lot less in the 3rd puzzle, so I wouldn’t be guessing S until I was reasonably certain it was in the puzzle. If it’s an 8-letter word, I’m probably hoping it’s “location” or “vacation” and the way I’ll know the difference is if I call O and it’s in the 2nd spot of the word as well.
   “Chocolate” shows up often enough in categories having to do with food, that if I saw a 9-letter word in a foot category, I’d be guessing T, and if it’s in the ‘right’ spot, building from there.

3. Buzz in just a SPLIT second before you know the toss-up.

   The idea is that in the time it takes for the ding to go off and Pat to call your name, you’ll fill in the rest in your mind, if you’re super close.

   This CAN bite you in the butt. I buzzed in just a HAIR (one letter) too early on the 3rd toss-up*. But, I did get 4 of the 5 toss-ups, which is reasonably good, so I do stand by the strategy. (I just miscalculated one of the times.)

   [*Side note on this: The whole point of this strategy is that you trust yourself. You trust how you’ve studied. You’re buzzing it early because you believe in you.
   You should have like a feeling, like a gut feeling that you know it, or almost know it, or probably know it, and your brain will catch up in the extra second after you buzz.
   However, in the 3rd toss-up (and only the 3rd) I buzzed not because I was super close to getting it and trusting myself. I buzzed because “oh no, I don’t know it, but too many letters are being revealed. I have to buzz or someone else is going to.” I didn’t know it, and I didn’t even think I knew it. I was just getting scared. So, I wasn’t actually following the strategy. The strategy is not to ring in early all willy nilly. It’s to ring in when your gut says to because you trust yourself. And the one time I rang in because of fear and not my gut, I missed it. So, ring in when you aaaaalmost know it – when your gut tells you (and trust yourself).]

   I already sort of thought this, but I got confirmation that made me feel better, when I heard Ken Jennings talking about always buzzing in a split second before he knew it [just to make sure he beat his competitors on the buzzer] on Jeopardy! and trusting himself that he was gonna know the answer. And if you studied, and you trust yourself, way more often than not you’ll be right. (And on Wheel, you don’t lose money for a wrong answer, so I’m willing to gamble on this.)

4. Trust yourself and follow your gut!

   Speaking of our guts, at the end of the day, trust yours. I’m not gonna say ‘don’t listen’ to the contestant coordinator people, as they’re super smart and doing their job. And also, it would be disrespectful of me to say that after all they do for us.
   However, don’t let them get in your head. You’ll get SO much info between the audition, the packet(s) you get in the mail, the full entire many hours of the tape day [and a full standby tape date, if you’re a California resident!] that it would be easy for them to potentially get in your head a little.

   Don’t have them in your head to the point that you’re starting to second guess yourself, or wonder if this is how they would play, or how they ‘want’ you to play. Don’t get caught up in if you’re doing it ‘right’ (on the subjective things, that aren’t like literally rules of game play, because those you actually do have to get right).

   The contestant people picked you because you can play. So, play the game you want to play. You’re the one going home with what you win or you don’t, and how you come across on TV, and all of that.

   Don’t play ‘for them’. I mean, sure, if you can make it a good game, do so! And I personally like people who gamble more, and keep going, and pick the mystery wedge and all of that! So, hopefully you’re like that! haha. But play the game for you.

These are the most simple, straightforward pieces of advice I have, but if you have any other questions, let me know!

1. Send in a video now. Right now. Right this second. Do it now.The process from me sending in the video to my show airing was almost 2 years. Some people do have the process go faster. It depends on a few factors. But it takes a while. So start NOW.

   That is really, truly, fully my biggest advice. That’s the most important bit. Don’t wait for the Wheelmobile. Don’t worry about your video. Just do. it. now. Go now. Do it now.

2. As far as what to put in the video, I’m not really sure. I shared what I put in mine. Like most game shows, you probably just want to be excitable/enthusiastic and if you can, show a general understanding of the game.
3. At the actual in-person audition, just do as best as you can on the test. And when you play the practice game in the audition, have the confidence like you’re on the stage. Talk loudly and clearly, and call smart letters. (And if you land on “free play” in the fake wheel spins, call a vowel to make them happy, even though in normal game play, I’m against it the vast majority of the time – in the audition phase, play how they want you to play. In the real game, do what you want.
4. Why are you not applying right this second? Do. it. now. That’s the most important takeaway. There’s no time to lose!

I’m gonna get into the step-by-steps and questions tomorrow. But for now, let me just start by addressing the Wheelmobile, which is where I started, but not where I should’ve started.

I made a fairly terrible mistake with starting by going to a number of Wheelmobile events. Anytime they came anywhere close to a place I could get to (in fact, I even think I specifically flew somewhere once just to do that), I would go.

I would highly recommend against doing this. I think that I used to think, “oh, they must get so many videos, that seeing them in person has to be a better strategy.” But, I think differently now.

It is extraordinarily hard to get seen at a Wheelmobile event. There are tons of people. They have you fill out cards with your info, and then they pick them at random. So, you could be the first person in line and still not get seen.

At one, I sat behind a woman who was brilliant and solved every puzzle with such quickness and ease. She said she’d been going for 7 years and never gotten seen, but she would’ve been great for the show.

So, sure, if it’s in town, and/or if you sent a video and never heard back, and/or if you want to go, go.

But also, I don’t know what the true “point” of the events are, because I thought it was to audition, but I think it’s actually just to hype people for the show? Or maybe a little of both?

They spend a TON of time just being silly and getting the audience to chant things. They’re not running it in a way in which they’re trying to see everyone as fast as possible. They’re just chillin’.

So, just be prepared that you’re not going to anything that feels like an actual “audition.” It feels more like a Wheel of Fortune fan event, which isn’t necessarily bad. But it’s good to know what you’re getting into, just FYI.

I can’t believe it took me so long to send in a video. Even if you think you don’t have anything amazing to wow them with in 30 seconds, even if you think they’re so inundated they’ll never watch, whatever. Might as well try. If they don’t like you, or don’t see it, it’s no different than if you sent in nothing at all.

So, just go to their website and find the section about uploading a video. And this is where I’ll pick up tomorrow.

I don’t know if this is necessary, since we kinda did the story of the show itself.

And, it’s a game, so things are always changing. It’s hard to say what was truly ‘lost’ or not, since then we’d also account for things I got I shouldn’t have. And then we’re just describing the game.

But, just for funsies –

What I lost in straight-up player error: ~$6,000, give or take. I rang in on one toss-up too early, before I knew it (losing $2,000), and I couldn’t get “Honey bun.” We don’t exactly how much I would’ve gotten for Honey Bun, but based on what I had and where I was on the wheel, it would’ve been in the general range of $4,000, probably.

So about $6,000 was lost to player error.

What I gained in player error: ~$17,930. I lucked out majorly on the prize puzzle. There was no reason I should’e ever been in control of that. Ben didn’t really have reason to call S. Absolutely no shame towards him, as I obviously also made two mistakes (above), but when he relinquished the board, I had the luck of a lifetime to get Express and get the trip. So, that was an extra $15,930, that shouldn’t have necessarily been mine.
And then Steve ping-ponged back to me the toss-up that shouldn’t have been mine. I’d buzzed too early and lost $2,000. Then he buzzed, and didn’t get it and I took that $2,000 back.

So, I still netted + $11,930, give or take from player error alone.

Then we had:

Unclear: In the 4th puzzle, I relinquished control of the board again, which was bad and could’ve been building up money, which you could argue was money I was losing, but that also gave the wheel a chance to get back to me, and have me almost land on the $5,000 space – with a consonant with two instances still on the board.  But I landed on bankrupt.

So, that was sort of player error for letting it leave my control, and sort of Wheel luck for spinning bankrupt. So, I would say math-wise, this is just too hard to know what the total “should” have been, and what ‘fault’ there was.

Played “correctly” but didn’t have it: I don’t fault myself when playing games for the things I did “correctly,” but just didn’t go my way. So, on the bonus puzzle, I picked the category I never got wrong at home. And I called statistically good letters – 2 of which to try to figure out what was in that first word.

You could argue there was maybe a better letter to call than H, but the letters were reasonable. I tried to keep in mind everything I knew as the puzzle played out. And I just couldn’t think of it.

I know some people got it in those 10 seconds, but not me.

The reason I don’t view this as “player error” is because I made actual definitive mistakes in the other examples – not calling the letter that most makes sense, buying a vowel when I should’ve spun, buzzing in before I know the toss-up. Those are things that are definitively wrong.

But, just doing your best at a puzzle and not knowing it is more like Knowledge error – that’s your brain not having it, as opposed to an actual mistake.

So, knowledge gap/error/whatever you want to call it: $37,000 (Oof, that hurts.)

Wheel: ~ $10,000 (give or take). This one is tough to say. Could’ve been a lot more. Could’ve been a little more. But on that first puzzle, I was gonna just keep going. I already had over $5,000, which plenty more consonants left. And I got a lose-a-turn.

(I also think we probably could count the 4th puzzle in here, because at that point, I did have money in the bank, and I was in control of the board, and I was about to guess a letter that was in the puzzle. So, the wheel did do me in there. But since I had ‘thrown off’ where the wheel could’ve been by losing control earlier, I won’t totally make the wheel take the blame for this.)

Conclusion: So, as you can see, there was SO much room for more or less money – that’s kind of how games [at least partially] of chance work. But that’s kind of the breakdown with the money. I’m ultimately happy with what I had, overall.

Boy oh boy. Where to even start?

I had such a *minuscule* amount of “virality” in comparison to what so many people have experienced on the internet. But I had SO much more than I’ve ever experienced. So, here’s what it was like for me.

First off, the internet at large. It was crazy to see random articles popping up from big companies (like yahoo) to small blogs, just talking about how I had a “meltdown” at the bonus puzzle.

Many articles were very lighthearted and felt like they were laughing with me, whereas some of course felt like there were laughing at me.

There was one website, that I’m not even sure if I should give the name of where men rated whether I was ‘f*ckable,’ and if they’d want to. That was very surreal, as they were guessing what I’d be like in bed – based off my Wheel of Fortune appearance? That’s one of the least sexual things I can think of, but because I was loud, they assumed I’d be a “screamer,” etc.

I guess(???) it’s nice that everyone I saw indeed thought I was f*ckable, but like do I care about these random guys on the internet?

(The bad stuff felt worse in the moment. Now that I’ve had a little time away from it, it doesn’t feel so bad.)

Then there was social media. A number of people on twitter were talking about me. But what was really funny was that every time I responded just kind and like a human, every person walked back what they had to say.

Some people said they didn’t like my outfit. I chose it based on all the many guidelines. If I explained that, people would immediately walk it back.

If I kinda joked along with people, also poking fun at what a spazz I was, they’d be like ‘agh! I’m just so jealous of you! I’ve always wanted to be on a game show!’

The thing that surprised me the most was how weird people were about my pigtails! I love pigtails. Wear them all the time! I feel like they’re the best hairstyle on me. Like whooooooo cares? Everyone was so weird about the pigtails. I did not imagine they’d be controversial at all.

The cool part was seeing all the people who loved me! I’d been really embarrassed (for many reasons), and yet, there were people who said I made their night! There were people who said I was their favorite contestant I’d seen in years!

They said they liked the energy I breathed into the show.

So, I loved that people loved me! And I loved them!

Thankfully, I wasn’t so hated [or so loved] that anything got way out of hand. No one doxxed me, or showed up at my home or anything. I had a very tame mini-viral moment.

[And I do always say, I think I’d rather be loved and hated than nothing at all!]

It was definitely a weird couple of weeks, hearing from so many strangers, or seeing so many strangers talk about me in front of me (again, felt worse/weirder in the moment, but better with time). But as quickly as it happened, it pretty much melted away.

And the world keep spinning.

Picking up from yesterday –

There aren’t a lot of game shows where you can make reasonably “life-changing” money. “Life-changing” money is gonna depend on the person – and also on how much you want your life to change/what you need.

Also, maybe game shows aren’t meant to change your life. I thought of Price is Right and Let’s Make a Deal as a lark. Usually the most you can expect to win on those is around $20,000… Maybe more like $40,000-$50,000 if you have an extremely lucky day on Price, win your game (probably for a car, and maybe money on top of it) and make it to the showcase, and have a good showcase as well.

Even at those amounts of money, I usually expect those things to be trips or cars, so you know you’re not gonna get the full amount. You’re kind of going on for fun – which is probably exactly what game shows are supposed to be.

But on Wheel, $40,000 doesn’t seem like the top amount – it seems totally within reach! $37,000 is the MINIMUM amount for the bonus round! Just win that, and you’re good.

And if I could just get to the bonus round and win even the minimum, then I was basically gonna be able to have the surgery in the free and clear. I thought “finally – FINALLY – my life is about to ‘start’ baby!

We can pretend these ups and downs never happened. I will happily take my gorgeous gift from the universe, and I will go audition and dance my little HEART out, in a body that makes people think I can be cast to do that.”

[And I reeeeeeeally don’t want to hear any “body positivity” things here. I work really hard for my body. And I’d like it if extra skin from being fat wasn’t in the way.]

And you can argue that it’s all my fault – maybe I should’ve somehow known about my heart condition before college. Or maybe once I found out – even with all the surgeries and the time stuck in a hospital bed, I should’ve tried to figure out a way to not let my life take a such a downward turn, and not gained the weight (and that’s a fair critique!).

And/or when it finally made an upturn, I shouldn’t have gotten involved with that guy. [Trust me(!), I have thought about it a lot in my life. I don’t so much anymore, because there’s no use dwelling, but that thought has been fully fleshed out in my brain.] And I shouldn’t have let it affect me and blah blah blah. There are shoulds not not have gotten where I am, but this is where I am.

Yes, I could’ve done things differently to not need plastic surgery. I also could’ve saved a lot more money in my life to be able to have it! Yes, there are a lot of things that wouldn’t have put me in the spot I’m in. I do recognize that! You don’t need to tell me hahaha.

But I am in the spot I’m in. And I’m not getting any younger! I WANT to dance for an NBA team before this life is over. I still have a really fair number of years ahead of me where that is not an insane dream, but those years go by FAST. I wanted to have plastic surgery this year.

And maybe I still will! We don’t know. It’s just that, I don’t know. I kind of had this dream that Wheel was gonna be my nice re-set – not just for my physically, or money-wise, but a fun, great story that could be an exciting triumphant story to re-start blogging again!

But that’s not how it happened.

So, there’s more to say and more to talk about. And yes, I will work on trying to find multiple sources of income. [e.g. I’m trying to get people to commission songs. I’ve signed up to teach lessons online. I’m seeing what else I can do for extra cash.] I’ll do my best to make it happen.

Just woulda been nicer to do it without all this extra work. And I am disappointed and embarrassed in myself in many ways, but *shrug*. So be it. You just gotta keep moving forward, I supposed.

Hey there!

Okay, so… Sure. Let’s get into it.

[And, I do realize everybody on Earth has dreams, and nearly everybody needs money. I’m not acting like I’m soooooooo special to have dreams and something I want to spend money on. But this is my specific story.]

I’m gonna tell you something SUPER embarrassing, but it’s the truth of it all, and it’s probably gonna make this make some more sense. So, I’m just gonna tell you ’cause that’s the simplest thing to do.

For those of you who haven’t been reading my blog all these years (or even maybe for those who have) – here is an extremely quick rundown of my life [or at least the bullet points that are relevant to this story; there probably are many more]

The beginning

• Toddler in diapers – watches Michael Jackson, LOVES music, dances her butt off
• Middle school – dance, dance, dance. [Heck yeah, we did Thriller at my recital]
• [Also in here, my dad and I start going to watch The Indiana Pacers play in a different arena every year. I love the NBA. This will become clear why it’s relevant in a minute haha.]
• High School – sets up schedule to take basically ALL performing arts classes Junior & Senior year. Does tap in the morning at the local professional dance academy.
• Berklee College of Music(!!!), one of the best music schools. Gets known around school as a dancer – goes on the local Boston news to teach The Single Ladies dance as a fun ridiculous random thing having to do with… school(?), I forget.

Dum dum duuuuum

• Find out I have a weird congenital heart defect. Goes from being known as “the fun girl who dances” to “the heart girl”
• In and out of the hospital for a year; has open-heart freaking surgery.
• Between aaaaaaaall the various heart surgeries and complications, etc., I gain TONS of weight (like a lot, no joke). And I lose all my fitness.
• I claaaaaaw my way back from all of that. I lose the weight. I pay off the medical bills (with help – thanks parents and loved ones).
• Finally in a stable condition (financially and fitness and everything), I get some headshots. I start dance classes. I start auditioning for things. I make it into my dream writing program in NYC. I think my life is FINALLY truly beginning.
• and then I get date raped/end up in a domestic violence relationship and it absolutely ruins me. I get so depressed, I can barely get out of bed. I gain all kinds of weight again. And it all seems like it’s over.

And then, like a Phoenix… haha

• I get very intense therapy, and get all the tools I need to function in the world again and not be quite SO freaking depressed and anxious all the time
• I somehow lose nearly 100(!) pounds, FINALLY getting back to normal
• [I even FINISH my dream musical theater program – making the cut of the cut program – after deferring because of everything that happened]
• Aaaand I write a musical on domestic violence that makes it into multiple festivals!
• I start up in ballet. I get en pointe. I try out for the Clippers dance team [I told you the NBA would be relevant haha]. [It even goes better than expected! I don’t make the team, but I do better than I think, and am soooo ready for the following year.]
• But now… Again, SO embarrassing. And not to like be gross. But with gaining and losing 100 pounds, I have some loose skin on my thighs! [And some other places, but that is the most egregious!]
• I desperately need some help putting my body back together. That takes a plastic surgery. I want plastic surgery – not to make an impossible body. Not to shave 5 millimeters off my nose. To put my body back together after letting it get out of control a couple of times. So that [ew ew ew ew eeeeeeew, sorry] my extra skin won’t get in the way when I dance – so that I don’t have to worry about looking weird in booty shorts, and that when I try out to dance in the NBA that people are looking at my muscular legs, not my loose skin. (I want to live some dancing dreams, before I get too old to do it.)

Okay, this blog post is kind of way too long as it is, so I’m gonna do a part 2 – tomorrow!

Now that we’ve gotten all the main game play and stuff out of the way, let’s start getting into the reactions and general questions.

The first one is (and I’ll talk more about the reaction to my episode later), but many people have been all over me for not being super happy at the end of the show, and how dare I think about $23,000 is not enough.

I’m super grateful for any extra money ever, of course. Yes. But to every stranger online who keeps telling me how $23,000 would change their life, and I should be grateful for it – I’m ultimately gonna get about $5,800 (give or take).

Still a lot – but like 1/4 of what everybody’s saying.

I already did a post on game show taxes. And we’ll just do a little general math here.

Remember, I won about $14,500 in cash on Wheel. The rest is a trip – and I still pay taxes on all $22,930 (of cash and prizes).

So, let’s say about 10% state tax. And let’s say about 25% for federal. So, that’d be:
$22,930 – $2,930 (10% of total amount for state) = 20,000 – $5,732.50 (25% of total amount for federal) = $14,267.50 – $8,430 (the price of the Barbados trip, so this is not *real* money I’ll see) = $5837.50

Just putting that out there for anyone who thinks I can take the trip of a lifetime, or pay for a semester’s worth of an expensive impressive school… No, I can like, pay my SAG initiation hahahaha.

STILL incredibly(!) cool, yes. Absolutely. But like, just – I know I’m being a little defensive since a lot of people were really intense about me needing to have a better attitude about a ‘windfall’ or what have you, but it’s less than people think. And even if it’s cool, it’s not a truly life-changing amount of money. And Wheel does sometimes have people who win life-changing amount of money.

So, yes, I should be grateful. I also see why I was upset (which I will elaborate on for you in the coming days!)

[Also, you don’t get it until *months* after the show airs, so as of right now, I’ve won nothing!]

xoxoxo

Picking up from yesterday –

So then, it’s time for the block of shows to start.

If you’re in the first group to play, you stay behind to get mic’d and things. If you’re in any of the other groups, you go to a designated area of the seats to watch. (It’s way on the edge, away from other audience members).

And you’re supposed to stay away from any audience members. Everything has to stay on the up-and-up. There can’t be any appearance of anything that’s not fully above board. So you can’t have your phone. You can’t talk to anyone who’s not a contestant or contestant coordinator (or the lawyer). You have to be watched and good.

So, we all sat there and watched the episode. And of course everyone is very quietly playing along, which is funny, seeing the people around you with the various strategies.

One thing that was interesting when I’d been a standby contestant and got to see all 6 shows, was as far as me and the other standby contestant could tell, when they put the mystery wedge on the wheel, they switched it every time. So, for instance, if the mystery wedge that showed $10,000 was near Free Play in the first game, then in the second game, that space was bankrupt. And in the 3rd game, that space would be $10,000 again.

Or at least that’s how it *looked* to us, from where we were sitting, but we couldn’t be 100% sure. And I’m sure there’s no way they do that every single day, because people would catch on and always know for their game where mystery wedge was (assuming they were watching it be set in the games before them).

I was curious though to watch and pay attention to if that pattern reemerged during this tape date. But alas, I was the second show. So, I didn’t see any wedges being switched out except on one game before mine.

So, yeah, we all watched the first game.

And juuuust a little bit before the game is over, the take the next group down to the contestant room again for last minute make-up touchups, to grab some water, and to get ready to go on your game!

And then as soon as the players who just played are coming back, you’re going out and getting mic’d up and everything.

I was a little bummed that we were being taken back before the bonus puzzle, because I really wanted to see at least one full game to practice/warm-up/get in the swing of things.

But! The good news is, they had the bonus puzzle up on the TV in the room. And I got “Riding a Bike” JUST in the nick of time. (I know bike is always a go-to word if it’s an activity and I don’t know what it is.)

So, I felt confident-ish going into my game.

And then it was our turn to play! And this is where I’ll pick up tomorrow!

Picking up from yesterday –

So, at this point, the make-up stuff is still going. People are going in and out for touch-ups. (We were supposed to come basically camera ready, but they elevated everyone, so we all looked better on television.)

I was in the make-up chair. And I got to pull my color! There was a random little bottle thing we pulled our colors out of. (Most things were as randomized as they could be, for fairness.)

In my heart of hearts, I was hoping for the blue spot. It’s the 3rd spot (lucky number). The prettiest color of those 3. The closest to being directly in line with the used letter board. You’re on the end, so less likely to be distracted by anyone around you (in my opinion).

And I was so super pleased to get blue! (Yay!)

I tried to pretty much remember things in order, although I think I may have not gotten the order totally right, because I thought we were on stage before this, but also after this? Did we go onstage twice.

Well, either way, this was the gist of the day in approximate-ish order of how it happened.

Also on stage, they had people record their hometown howdies, and get a press photo taken (that they’d send us before our episode aired, so we could put it on social media and everything).

And also, someone (a director, I think?) would be looking at us through the camera, and telling other people (on earpieces or something?) whether our outfits worked, or if we needed to change anything.

And yeah, I think (I hope) I covered everything from when I auditioned to when the round of shows were about to start, and I guess I’ll start there tomorrow!

Picking up from yesterday –

So, then… After we get back to contestant holding, they announce our group of 3s [the people we’ll be playing with]!

Now, before this point, during any little breaks or downtime, they’ve been showing former games/puzzles on the TV in the room. I was gonna just be quiet and everything, but as soon as someone else shouted an answer out early, oh, well, baby, it’s on.

I got “Hamburger and Fries” (which I think was a toss-up) after like one letter, people were a little taken aback. And I laughed, but also, inside, I had a little fight in me of like “let’s get it! Let’s GO, y’all!

So, as people had made friends around the room that day [and we had lunch and everything too; they kept everyone well fed], I bonded a little with Steve (on my show). He said he’d studied a lot and we compared study methods/tips. (I studied more than he did. ;))

And we talked about our Wheel strategy. His was more conservative than mine (as we also saw on the show).

And so by the time we got our groups of people, Ben started joking like ‘oh NO’. Not these two nerds haha. (I mean, he was doing it in a funny self-deprecating way, as though he wasn’t gonna be able to keep up with us, now that we weren’t nerds in a bad way.)

So, after we got our groups, one person was designated as the person who would picking a number out of a container to know which show you’d go on.

They tape 6 shows of Wheel of Fortune in a day. So, if you get the 6th show, you’re on a whole different theme week. And I think that could be a little rough, getting so used to one theme week – the one you’ve studied and studied for. I mean, it’s not a surprise. They tell you to expect that. But I was definitely hoping not to get the 6th show (which I didn’t).

In our group, Ben pulled.

I was like ‘don’t get the second show – the ‘unlucky’ show (as 2 is my unlucky number)… He got the second show. And we laughed about that.

So, we had our show number, and the people on the show. And this is where I’ll pick up tomorrow!

Picking up from yesterday –

They also took us around the set, and showed us everything.

It was sort of funny (and really endearing) to me how some people were so amazed by a television set. In that way, I guess it was nice to be an LA person who’s been on a number of them, and in that way sort of has ‘home field advantage’.

It was just interesting seeing people in real time be maybe even distracted by the ‘lights’ and everything, and just feel extra pressure, whereas I very much felt at home. And when I was practicing and playing, I didn’t even notice the audience, or anything like that. I’m locked into the game, baby!

So, anyway, I know a lot of people on the internet have talked about this, so I think it might be common knowledge. But there is a “used letter board” to the upper left (as you face it) of the puzzle board.

The letters are all lit up. The vowels are separated out. And they’ll go dark once called. So, they explain that to you, and say you can always look up there if you need to be reminded if something has been called or not.

Also, to the left of you in general (not by the board, but more to your actual left, instead of in front of you), is where are the scores are kept – so we can see what people have in that round and total, so you can be doing math to know if you think you should keep spinning.

Those are really the only other places you’ll ever have to look. And most of the time, you should probably be focused on the board.

Then we split up and play a practice game. So, 3 people at a time get to go up to the spots on the wheel while others wait behind. (We’re all kind of whispering behind, and the contestant coordinators are coming around asking us like ‘what do you think that word might be? What might you call?)

And I’m pretty strong at this while I’m playing behind. So, that’s good.

But then when I got up there, there was another crossword puzzle! (I don’t know why the thing I’m usually good at, I could not get ahold of that day!)

But the clue was “______ line” And one of the words was _UNCH. I don’t think there was any other info that would’ve given us the first letter.

And yet AGAIN – not trusting my gut, and going too ‘Wheel of Fortune general rules of thumb’ about it, I said L since L is in RSTLNE. But it was P!

P was in my gut. I was overthinking it. I wish I could say I fully took that lesson in the practice, and did better in the game. But not. I overthought the game too. But whatever. (You already know that from my game posts.)

I do think… I dunno how to put this exactly, because I don’t necessarily think the right phrasing is “over-coached,” because I don’t think the Wheel people did anything wrong at all. They’re trying to help and make sure everyone is ultra-prepared.

But in my opinion, if you’re really prepared going in, and you have your strategies thought about and everything, I think you should stand in your confidence and don’t let other people get in your head.

My standby tape date, I came READY. And then I was in a slightly worse place in my personal life by this point. And so I was just like mentally weaker in the moment, and like I just had too many thoughts/ideas swirling in my head. Gotta get that mental toughness up! But alas. On we go!

And this is where I’ll pick up tomorrow!

Picking up from yesterday –

3. Related to that, it doesn’t super matter what their opinion is on it, when it’s your game/time on air. I mean, they’re letting you on the show, so to some extent, you should try to give them what they want, if you can.

And as much as I thought I was very well-studied and knew the game very well, they work there. So, their opinion is gonna be super smart/relevant/not to be dismissed.

But at the end of the day, I think you want to try to make it so that their opinions and coaching don’t seep in tooooo much, because I think one of the real tricks to doing well [not only at this game, but in life] is truly trusting yourself. So, I didn’t want to worry tooooo much about their advice when you have to trust yourself when you’re that studied and read, and it’s your big day.

But the one thing I wish I would’ve asked(!) is if anyone ever in the history of Wheel of Fortune has solved a puzzle with ZERO letters in the puzzle – not one. Just looked at it and solved. Because I kind of assumed at some point, somewhere it must’ve happened.

But I haven’t been able to find anything about it online. And had I known I would’ve been the first ever, I might have done it for funsies. I still kind of doubt I would have. But I might have! It woulda been pretty cool. It would’ve been a fun viral moment.

(But it’s possible that they wouldn’t have known this off the top of their heads, and perhaps it would’ve been seen as a dumb of conceited question, so, I dunno. Maybe it wouldn’t have gone over well in the moment, and maybe it would have. Who knows.)

BUT things are so clear in hindsight – when I knew I already went semi-viral for something I don’t like, so I would’ve rather it been for something cooler. And when I already know I landed on the Express Wedge and won the game. It’s the information I didn’t have at the time that makes me wish I would’ve. And I didn’t have that then, so *shrug*.

And I’ll get back to all the pre-show stuff tomorrow!

Picking up from yesterday –

One thing I am in HUGE agreement on with the Wheel of Fortune people is that people are there to PLAY.

So, again, while you are not obligated to do any of the things they suggest, they do talk strategy that they find to be good most of the time. And I’m in agreement with them on a lot of it – including this.

They told people that if you’re spinning, and you figure out a puzzle that still has multi-consonants (like 4 of the same consonant), that it’s usually good practice [if you want] to keep spinning! You could end up with a really big payday that way, and it’s more engaging for the viewers at home.

[Imagine landing on a $5,000 space with 4 consonants remaining!]

And while they were telling us this, I *almost* asked if that were the case that there were lots of consonants, but NOTHING had been called (or even just like one letter) – if it was potentially going to be a very impressive solve, would they rather us just go ahead and go for it, if we felt like it, to have that potentially viral moment.

Just something was pulling at me to ask it. (It’s almost like somehow my gut knew I’d be put in that spot [like it was destined, or something silly like that]!)

And I think looking back on it, while you’re there in person, you should ask literally anything you want. What are they gonna do? Not pick you? You’re already going on the show. I guess you could do something heinous enough to get kicked out, even after you were picked, before you tape. But after quite a long process, I would guess you’d have to do something pretty awful to get kicked out. I think you’d be safe asking any questions about game play or strategy advice you wanted – even if they were dumb or annoying.

This is your only chance to get the words straight from the horse’s mouth. So, you might as well take the opportunity, and not be left wondering things later.

But anyway, the reason I didn’t ask is:

1. What kind of question is that? That’s pretty presumptuous to think you’re gonna be that good at the game that you’re gonna know a puzzle that quickly, and that you’re gonna be lucky enough to be in a spot in which it would even matter anyway. So, do you really wanna be all teacher’s-pet-nerd-alert in front of everybody else, and set a bar that’s really hard to live up to? [Usually better to underpromise and over-deliver, when possible].
2. I generally though it’d be smarter to go for money than viral-ness anyway. So, even if they said, “we’d love a viral moment,” I doubt I would’ve listened, because at the end of the day, I really wanted to win the game.

And this is where I’ll pick up tomorrow.

Picking up from yesterday –

So, after the lawyer visits, the coordinators lead us through any last questions, and they collect all of our IDs.

Random fact, and I’m not sure why this is, but if you do not have a psychical social security card with you, you do not get to play.

(They deeply warned us about this, so everyone knew to bring theirs. And maaaaaybe they do something if you forget yours in a far away state that they’ll let you play but not give you prizes until you’ve proven with your physical card. I don’t know, but I wouldn’t chance it!)

So, they take our paperwork and our IDs. And Vanna comes to say hi, which was really cool!

She pops her head in, and is super nice. And she’s totally gorgeous in person (as she is on screen), even before she gets her make-up on.

The contestant coordinators also go over the general rules of Wheel of Fortune. The explain the various wedges, the wild card, all of it. They have replicas of those pieces they hold up and show us.

They talk about the various categories and general smart game play.

They mention on Free Play that you can also try to solve the puzzle… I actually forget what the final outcome of the question was, but I did wonder if you can take a gull on puzzle guess on Free Play, if it’s wrong, do you keep spinning. I *think* the answer was no. But I don’t remember… I do remember there being some of thing about Free Play that seemed like something I was unaware of before… and I think it was that you could just guess the puzzles. But I don’t know if that’s true, because if it is, then if it was wrong, but was a free play, you’d get to keep going.

I’m sure I was overthinking it, and it was a moot point anyway because I don’t think I’d ever use Free Play to guess the puzzle.

The coordinators said over and over at the audition and on the day that they thought Free Play would be good for vowels. I still vehemently disagree with this, as I’ve stated, but hey, to each their own.

Now… I don’t know if I felt more worn down this day because I’d, within the past month, been back in the hospital for my heart issues popping up, or if it was because I’d been on such a weird sleep schedule for work, or if it was because it was the top of the pandemic, or if it was because I’d already been to a tape date and was going through the whole thing again, but I did feel a little worn down at the rules/advice part – especially as they continued them while we were out on the stage.

And like I don’t blame them at all. I don’t think they’re doing anything wrong. They’re trying to get a good show. They’re trying to remind people of things. They’re trying to download info to people who may or may not have been studying. They’re trying to do their jobs, but I do think because I was in a more exhausted/vulnerable state than the average day, I was kind of worn down and became slightly more in my head with all of it, I think.

I mean, it’s fine. It didn’t affect my gameplay in any markedly different way. Like, I don’t think the outcome would’ve necessarily been different just off of all this drilling alone, but like, I dunno. I was a little worn down haha.

Anyway, I’ll pick up with more of the day tomorrow!

Picking up from yesterday –

So, once we get to Sony, we go into this contestant room for Wheel of Fortune people.

It’s stocked with bagels, drinks, snacks. They do a great job of keeping us fed all day.

On the side of the contestant area is a make-up area. They’re right next to each other/connected by a door that’s generally kept open the whole time.

So, some announcements and things can be given while people are in make-up, because make-up needs to cycle through people, and you can hear in there.

(Some of the more important announcements, they’ll stop down make-up, but for some of the simpler things, they won’t.)

Three people can go to make-up/hair at a time. So, three people start in on that. People are snacking. The day is starting.

We all get little lockers in the back of the room where we have to put our phones (and really, basically everything we have, as we’re not allowed to have much while we’re there).

A contestant coordinator comes in and explains “Hometown Howdies” to us – which is where people will tape a little thing for their affiliate stations.

They have a little board where it gives the script, and says something like “I’m [name] from [city]. Watch ME play Wheel of Fortune tonight on ABC 6.”

So, we go around the room and one at a time, someone stands, says their little script to practice, and then gets notes on it (which for most people is just ‘louder’ and ‘more enthusiasm’), then sits down.

Angelinos don’t do “hometown howides,” because our local stations don’t care/don’t play them. But we still get to practice them for funsies!

And I felt special, like I got a little ‘gold star’, because they were very proud of how I delivered the lines with the inflection the way they wanted it – plenty loud and enthusiastic!

It is so funny to me the difference between being an LA person and people from other places. Because, not to knock them at all, I’m sure other people have plenty of skills I don’t have.

But I am SO used to being able to “turn it on”and kind of get that inflection of like upbeat-game-show contestant that they want, that when people seem bewildered by it, I get bewildered at their bewilderment!

But then again, try to put me in their day-to-day – I’d have absolutely no idea how to like cook for a toddler, or drive a manual car, etc. But I sure can hit my mark, and smile big. I’ve been practicing that since I was a toddler!

Anyway, enough about being overly-trained on how to be an over-the-top LA person.

Then, it’s time for paperwork central!

And that’s where I’ll pick up tomorrow.

Picking up from yesterday –

In the big packet, we get a mini-packet of things from Pat Sajack – his “secrets to winning on Wheel.”

He basically talks about how important he thinks it is to buy vowels. And he talks about how he’d always use “Free Play” for a vowel.

I’ve always vehemently been against using Free Play for a vowel in most cases. Yeah, sure, it’s “free.” So, you don’t have to buy your vowel. BUT they still give you $500 for any consonant you call while on Free Play! So, if you landed on Free Play, got a consonant for $500, and then bought a vowel for $250 right after, you’ve still netted $500!

Now, $500 is a pretty low amount, so maybe you want to burn the turn to spin for more money, so you call a vowel just to do it. But I don’t think it’s “saving” you money, per se.

Also, there are only 5 vowels, but 21 consonants! And vowels, for the most part, must appear in every word. I think in general, with context clues and just probability, I think you generally have a better chance of calling a vowel in the puzzle than a consonant (if you’re lost as to what the puzzle is, and don’t have other things to build off of).

So, I’d call what I’m less likely to get correct.

I think what free play is best used for is stuff like:

– something you think is a strong possibility, but there are other good options and it’s risky to call on a normal turn, so you’d luck out in having the safety net

– a “good letter” in a puzzle in which you are almost certain of a part of it, but you don’t know the other part. So, if you’re almost CERTAIN about like a “T” and “N” are in the puzzle, and that will complete RSTLNE, and you don’t know what another word is, guess like a P, or a C, etc. – something reasonable, but iffy.

The only time I can generally imagine using Free Play for a vowel is if I’m really lost on a puzzle and we only have two vowels remaining, and free play is gonna give me my answer.

Because if there are only 2 vowels left, and you call one on Free Play, you then have a ton more information.

If that vowel is in the puzzle, and there’s still another vowel remaining, and it’s the last vowel available, then you can immediately buy it after Free Play, and have all the vowel information.

If the vowel is not in the puzzle, same deal, buy the one that is.

If it’s in the puzzle and you get the sound that you’re out of vowels, congratulations. You still have all the vowel info.

I mean, I guess you could argue that I said in my second puzzle I may have used free play for a vowel when there were 3 vowel possibilities left, because there were only 2 letter spaces left on the board, and I was at a loss, and I needed whatever info I could grab onto.

But in general, I think vowels are a bad strategy on Free Play, overall. And yet, Wheel of Fortune very, very much encourages you to use Free Play for vowels.

Anyway, his other things are like pay attention to the category, which I totally agree with, and to be willing to take gambles and how frustrating it is if someone doesn’t pick up the mystery wedge when they only have like $1,000. I also super wholeheartedly agree with that. Like he says if you don’t really wanna play, “why are you here?”

And he says pay attention to the scores… Like if someone built up a ton of money and got lose a turn, and the next person called a wrong letter, and then you’re in control, if the game is close between the two of you, you may want to try to block them from getting the puzzle and not just spin hoping to rack up a little more, as you may get bankrupt and hand their windfall back to them.

And I think that’s fair.

I mean, he knows the game better than nearly anybody. So, of course I agree with most of his sounds tips, but that Free Play thing! It gets me every time!

And this is where I’ll pick up tomorrow!

Picking up from yesterday –

It also tells you not to bring any outside reading material. (In game shows, they just have to be so careful to know no one is cheating… I don’t really know how you can cheat at a puzzle game with a newspaper, but just in case!)

They give you a mini-packet that has all the common game categories, and explains what they are (e.g. person, titles, landmark, what are you doing, living things, in the kitchen, and on and on and on and on). (The mini-packet of categories is 6 pages long.)

They give us a little pink sheet of tips on how to be a great contestant, which are all pretty straightforward. Study. Be confident. Have fun. That kind of stuff.

They also give you a full contestant release, so you have a chance to read it before you get there (even though the lawyer will go through the whole thing with you).

And Pat Sajack has a little “tribute to Wheel’s Contestants,” which is very cute! It basically just says people come from all over the world to play Wheel, and he appreciates them all, etc.

I know this post is a little on the short side, but I need a full one to talk about another thing from the packet – Pat Sajack’s secrets to winning on wheel.

Okay, so my tape date!

[This blog post is just kind of over-explaining, so if you want to skip this one, feel free to go for it.]

I got the notice that I was invited to play “Surfin’ Safari, which will tape on Friday, March 13, 2020.

I had sort of a lot going on at the time. (That’s mentioned in another post.) So, it wasn’t the best time for me to go on.

And part of me wondered if maybe I would’ve been better on another theme week, or if “Surfin’ Safari” could really be my jam.

But I didn’t want to start pick-and-choosing theme weeks. And even though the timing wasn’t perfect, I felt like I had to push through the fact that I’d gotten used to working nights, and I’d recently been really ill (in the hospital for 3 or so days), etc. Like, it was time to just do this – as, by this point, I was at the very tail end of the one year and 6 months mark.

Again, they made it super clear that they won’t pressure you to go on, and they’ll extend it if you need.

But I didn’t want to take any chances. (And now, knowing that day was basically the last day things were normal before the pandemic, not taking chances is probably even better.)

So, I went on the show.

You got to pick your four people who were going to go as your audience members. I very much enjoyed the friends who went, but my core supporters like my dad, and B, and Alex – they were all doing things they absolutely couldn’t get out of.

So, again, a slight sign that this isn’t the best ever time to be doing this tape date, but whatever. It’s time. At this point, between when I originally sent in my audition tape, almost two years prior, and doing Wheelmobile events for a few years after that, like… it was TIME.

So, on March 13th, I wake up super early in the morning.

I watch a full episode of Wheel just to kind of shake my brain awake. I head out in an Uber pool. (Isn’t it crazy to think we were still using Uber pools – without masks?!

This was truly like the last innocent day, basically.

I was way overly excited and made slight friends with my Uber driver before other people got in. Then the other people didn’t seem as ready to party at like 6am, so i had a little quiet ride to the studio where I tried to just calm my mind, and remember the ‘rules of thumb’ of Wheel of Fortune as best as I could.

And then I got to the studio!

Picking up from yesterday –

So, basically, the way it works when you’ve been chosen for the show is they tell you that there’s now an 18-month window of when they might call you in to play.

They say that because of the way the making the schedule works, you generally won’t know until about 14 days in advance.

They do try to make super clear that if there’s any reason you won’t be able to play, they’ll reschedule you. And they try to make it clear, that even if that boots you outside of your 18-month window, they’ll do their best to accommodate it.

(Some of the examples they give of life things that could get in the way are pregnancy (you can’t play if you’re too pregnant), illness, military deployment, final exams for college students, etc. etc.)

If you are a California resident! (Which I am!), you first have to do a standby tape date.

Now, if I had truly wanted to argue that I’m a New York resident, I think I could have. I did have an apartment there, and was spending a fair amount of time there, and am in BMI, and all that.

But I didn’t want it to get confusing for tax purposes, and temporary address purposes, etc. etc. So, I went with my true LA residency status, which means that since you live here, and you don’t have to fly in, you have to come to your first tape date as a standby contestant.

There are two standby contestants for every tape date, and basically they’re there just in case someone gets ill, misses a flight, whatever, then someone is there to play.

When I did my date as a standby contestant, someone mentioned in passing that to their knowledge it had been years since one was used. So, I think it’s basically a safety measure more than anything else.

But whenever it does end up getting used, they’re gonna be glad they did!

Now, as far as when I got called to come in and play…

I don’t actually remember all this time later, but I think they might’ve called me to standby while I was in New York, and then I couldn’t do it because the whole point of an LA person doing the standby is that they don’t have to make a trip out there just for that, so they didn’t want me to do that.

(Maybe it would’ve been better to put New York after all.)

But whatever!

Anyway, I ultimately got called in to be a standby contestant for Friday, July 26, 2019.

I was supposed to be running a 5k as part of the San Francisco half marathon weekend that weekend, but I didn’t want to wait any longer for Wheel.

So, I cancelled the SF weekend, and just went to Wheel of Fortune. We were already 10 months out from my acceptance. So, I wanted to get this standby date done, so I could get to my tape date.

And this is where I’ll pick up tomorrow.

May 8, 2018 – randomly made a video, and I’m pretty sure I sent it in that night.

You only get 30 seconds to say something. I happened to still be living kind of half in New York, half in LA, at the time. Thinking New York would seem interesting to them, I went and taped it in Times Square, not saying anything super special. In fact, I’ll tell you exactly what I said:

“Hi Wheel of Fortune! My name is Aurora. I’m here in Times Square, where I live, in New York. And… I want to be on Wheel, because I’m great at the strategy. I know all about the “What are you Doing” ending in -ing, and… you know, all the good letters to call, statistically what you should call for the bonus round. I care so much. And I really want to be on the show. So, please call me. Okay, bye!”

On August 27, 2018 – I got an email that I was given an audition, to take place almost exactly two weeks later.

I was lucky because, as I said, I was living partially in New York, and partially in LA, and I was already in LA during that time. So, it was easy for me to go to the audition.

They did say if you didn’t live in Los Angeles, they could contact you when they’d be closer to your state. But even if I hadn’t been in LA, I doubt I would’ve wanted to wait any longer.

So, then on the morning of September 11, 2018, I had my audition.

I had a truly great time at the audition.

Basically, you start with checking in at the desk, and turning in an application with a picture of yourself [that they instructed you to bring].

Everyone sat in rows of chairs. They welcomed us in, and we got to take a written test.

There were two different written tests on two different colored pieces of paper, so that you wouldn’t have the same test as someone next to you.

The test was hard, but reasonable. I was slightly nervous because there were definitely some things I missed. I very stupidly couldn’t figure out one of the puzzles that had something  _ _ J _  K in it. I’m like “Bojack [like Horseman]? What would that be in this context? Also, that doesn’t fit. What other word possible looks like that? 

It was Sajak. Like, think about where you are for just two seconds, girl.

But, no matter what I missed, i got enough right to advance to the next round!

It was so funny while they were grading our tests, and everyone was sitting around a little antsy in anticipation. It took kind of a while, but everyone was friendly while we waited.

They listed off the names of people who could stay, and everyone else was sent home.

I don’t have an exact number of people who left/got to stay, but I think it looked like under half, maybe? who got to stay.

So, then they would call on us, and we’d stand up from wherever we were sitting and there was a puzzle on the projector board in this hotel conference room. And we had to call some letters until we solved the puzzle, or they’d seen enough.

I felt so bad in my puzzle because there were THREE 3-letter words. The girl before me guessed “t,” and there was not one T in that whole puzzle.

Can’t fault her for trying T.

So, after only getting to guess one letter, she had to sit back down.

Then it was my turn. Knowing none of those words were “the,” I found some other common 3-letter words (“for,” and “and”).

Here I was thinking I was doing a great job (I like to think I was ;)), but they ended my turn because they’ve seen enough (enough brilliance, I hope! Am I right? *reaches out for high-5*). Anyway, so the puzzles kept going, until it was time for groups of 5-at-a-time to go to the front of the room, and pretend to actually spin, and play the puzzles.

And this is where I’ll pick up tomorrow!

Picking up from yesterday –

The puzzle I’m given is

A _ _ R _
_ _ _ ER

So, immediately I start thinking about letters that might end that first word, and what might help me there.

I know I get a little ‘theatrical’ with my side commentary or whatever of “oh, I’m nervous” or blah blah whatever [wasn’t really “nervous,” per se, was just trying to buy time to think].

I was SO hoping I could solve the puzzle, or part of it, without any additional letters – that something would stick out to me. And it just didn’t.

So, D seemed like a good guess. “rd” is a pretty big combination that it could’ve definitely been.

I picked H mainly because PCHO, last I heard, were statistically the best letters to call (and it usually worked out well when I did call them at home). And H gives you potentially a lot of info.

Looking back on it now, H probably wasn’t a good call.

The last word doesn’t seem long enough to have H be at the top for most ‘things’. Hover? Haver? And it’s probably not gonna be revealing a “ch” somewhere, because there’s just no room for it. “RH” isn’t gonna be the end of the first word.

So, I don’t know what I truly expected with H except for the fact that I think I was a little scared to abandon PCHO completely. But for whatever reason, it seemed right at the time.

If I were going to replace H with another letter at this point, I would do K because _ _ RK is also super duper reasonable.

I think at the time, I just wasn’t thinking about M. I thought it was most likely to be P, D, or K that ended that first word. So I thought if it wasn’t D and wasn’t K, I’d sort of assume P, and that I can’t purely just try to get that one letter, so I guessed H. But I should’ve guessed something else.

P was an okay guess, because that could be many places, and RP to end the first word is reasonable.

I will say, I would’ve almost never guessed M or F in the bonus puzzle, and I definitely wasn’t thinking of them for this one.

So, even though I could’ve called something stronger than H, I wouldn’t have called F or M. I still would’ve gotten more info, of something not being there. But *shrug*.

And then I called O, because statistically, it’s good in the bonus puzzle, usually – and in this one, it clearly was good, as it was the only info I got.

And this is where I’ll pick up tomorrow.

Picking up from yesterday –

Oh boy. This is where it starts to get a little controversial, because everyone’s like “don’t ever pick thing! I would never pick thing! Thing is an awful thing to pick!”

But in my opinion, it made sense for me.

I had, of course, been studying Wheel of Fortune wildly.

And I’d tracked how I’d done on bonus round categories.

There was absolutely no way I was going to pick “what are you doing?” Never, ever, ever.

Some recent episodes I’d studied had “fixing brunch” – I would’ve never gotten fixing brunch. That’s just not a phrase I would ever think of in my life.

“Being Goofy?” I mean, generally O is the letter I guess which would’ve been helpful, but I would’ve never guessed G, thinking they wouldn’t put in a helpful g in a puzzle where you know -ing is in there. And so I don’t know that I would’ve gotten that in 10 seconds.

“Lowering the Boom”? Like WHAT?! I mean, I know that’s a thing. And working in TV, you’d think maybe I’d think of a boom mic, but like. I just always did poorly on “what are you doing” because they kept phrasing things in ways I did not understand, that didn’t super feel like things you’re ‘doing’, at least to me. So, that one was ALWAYS off the table.

Event and Thing were two of my favorite categories. I knew going in that if I had just one of those, whichever it was, I would pick it.

If I got an option for both, I was going make a split second decision and/or I would just pick whichever of those two was in the 3rd spot.

WELL… Neither was in the 3rd spot, because “what are you doing” was in the 3rd spot.

So, THEN I ALMOST chose event, because Thing was in the second spot. And 2 is my unlucky number. But then I was thinking, “you HAVE to play strategy if you get to choose between strategy and luck. And statistically you’ve done better on thing.”

Event I had generally done well on. I did feel fairly strong in it. I had gotten “buying a condo” on a show I’d recently watched. But I’d missed “dramatic face-off” and was worried there might be an event I didn’t view as an ‘event’. So, while the ones I DID know, I seemed to know swiftly; the ones I didn’t, I was really lost.

In ALL the episodes I’d studied, I had never missed a “thing” bonus round. I thought I was on a good wavelength with Wheel as what things were. I’d gotten “Obvious Fact” and “Obvious Questions.” I got “A Quiet Voice” and “Quick Comeback.” I was even yelling “Valor and Bravery” at the TV.

Thing just seemed like… the thing, if you will.

So, I picked it. And I tried to really pick it with as much confidence as I could. But you can see right before the picture fades, I look down a little, because I am worried about the fact that I didn’t pick event. But I picked my fate, so it’s time to go to the bonus round.

And this is where I’ll pick up tomorrow.

Picking up from yesterday –

So, I get to spin, and the category is “What Are You Doing?” which is awesome, because then we already immediately know 3 of the letters.

I get to spin, and since I land on $700… That’s like a medium-sized dollar amount. So, I think there’s still a fair chance I might do better on my next spin. And I think it’s more likely that there are more Ns than Gs, so I call G first, just trying to strategize a little more money.

Then I call it, and immediately go to spin again, because we gotta get going, you know! There’s only so much time for this game!

And Pat laughs at me a little with the vibe of like ‘see if it’s up there first’ haha.

They put it up and he says, “Now you can spin. Don’t get ahead of things.”

I spin a $650, so less than the first spin, but it doesn’t matter as there’s also only one N in the puzzle. So, I would’ve had the same amount of money either way.

And then I bought an “i,” because you know… “ing.” So, all is goof there.

Now, this is where I’m stupid haha. Since I have the I’s, I see I is right at the top of the word!

Words that start in IN are pretty common. But of course we know it’s not that, because I already have the Ns up there.

So, IM words are also fairly common ish.

But in my head, I was judging myself. “Oh, M’s such a stupid letter. M isn’t a wildly popular letter. You’re gonna look so dumb if you guess M and it’s not up there.”

I wasn’t paying enough attention to the Wheel of Fortune rules I had for myself – one of the very main ones being “if the clues of the puzzle dictate that a letter is likely, you call it. Period. Even if it’s not “popular.” If you have reason to think there’s a Z up there, you just call it.

So, I absolutely should’ve guessed M. This was my bad.

Of course had I gotten M, I would’ve been almost positive that 2-letter word was MY, as that would really be all that made sense in this context. (I doubt I would’ve thought it was “me,” but anything is possible.

After that, I’m not 100% sure what i would’ve called, but RSL (from RSTLNE) would’ve been safe. I think I would’ve been more likely to call letters that RSL before I would’ve been likely to call a vowel (like E, or A, which wasn’t in the puzzle).

I like to think I would’ve called R had all that other information been up, but who knows.

The reason I guessed T here is because you could definitely be doing something to something else, or be doing something to a place [e.g. obv this doesn’t fit here, but like “biking to Grandma’s” (I don’t think that’d ever be a puzzle, but you get the gist.)

There was also a chance you could’ve been doing something *at* a place – [again, not with these letters, but like “swimming at midnight”].

So, M was a *better* choice, but T isn’t completely unreasonable. So, I think I get maybe a B- for this move. Not great, but it’s okay.

Anyway, I lose control of the board (obviously).

Steve goes. He gets an S and buys an E. I don’t really 100% know what he was thinking with E, because we’ve already discussed M is where it’s at. If I drop the ball, pick it up, Steve! haha.

Also, There are so many Is in the puzzle, I just don’t fully see where E would go. But it’s a common vowel, so also not crazy. And also, I’m not here to judge Steve’s choices. And at least we have the info that E’s not in the puzzle.

Now, Ben gets control of the board again. He calls R, and he smartly calls M! He picked up the ball I dropped. He also gets P, and then bankrupt.

He’s having a good time, dancing it out. And I look like the most intense little girl in the world. (I know I’m not actually a little girl haha, but it kinda feels like I look like one on Wheel of Fortune. Maybe it’s the pigtails.)

For some reason, I call V first, before Y. It might be because I think of those two, there’d be more likely to be multiple Ys, although I’m not sure if either of them will be multiples. Then I get Y.

Basically always chip away at the things you ‘know’ (or at least know as much as you can, before they’re revealed) before going out in the world.

So, I get Y. Then, I’m not totally sure what the last word is. I have ideas and letters I want to call. But I’m not sure. So, let’s get that O, just to put ourselves at ease, and verify there are no vowels left after that.

Everything in RSTLNE has been called except L. Obviously “L” looks pretty good. (The puzzle at this point reads “IMPROVING MY S_I_ _ S.)

So, that’s what I would’ve called and… I almost land on $5,000!!! Just a few clicks off. Off. Woulda been SO fun to have gotten lucky enough to be back in control of the wheel and really do something with it, but alas, it clicked on in to bankrupt.

Steve solves and then gets to start the last puzzle, which is where I’ll pick up tomorrow.

Picking up from yesterday –

So, if you just want to hear about Wheel of Fortune strategies, and my game-playing brain during the game, I’d say skip this post. This is more self reflective.

If you’re a reader of the blog/someone who knows me/someone who for some reason cares about my inner weirdness, read on!

Have you ever noticed that anytime I publicly feel joy (this is also probably privately true as well. I just don’t have all those cameras on me in private to be able to watch it be played back), I’m not actually really feeling joy. I’m feeling relief.

(And I’m sorry if I’ve said this before, because I may have talked about it on the blog, but if not, I’ve certainly talked about it in therapy hahaha.)

I somehow got it in my head when I was younger that winning is the only option. And if you lose, it doesn’t mean you just didn’t do the best of anyone there, it means you reeeeeally messed up. You might as well not have even gone to whatever it is you lost.

I know I “joke” about “if you’re not first, you’re last” is one of my favorite quotes, but that’s kinda real.

I make these huge life goals and dreams and everything. And when I accomplish them, I don’t think I feel this giant sense of pride. I feel relief that I have another thing off the list done.

So, when I won the trip to Barbados, it’s not that I can’t wait to go to Barbados with Alex. It’s that for almost 7 years [minus 6 days, because my Price is Right episode aired March 19, 2013 and we taped this on March 13, 2020], since I was on The Price is Right. I have been asked about game shows SO much, and one of the things I’m asked ALL the time is to talk about trips! And I didn’t know the answers, because I’d never won a trip on a game show.

It has been my dream to be on Wheel for so long, and I turned down opportunities on other game shows, because I had to hold out for Wheel. (You aren’t allowed to have been a main contestant on any other game shows in the previous 10 years to Wheel, so I couldn’t be on any more, basically, if I wanted to be on Wheel. So, I wanted this to be worth it.

If I had not won a trip, it would’ve been a super bummer. But if I had full on landed on Express in the prize puzzle and somehow not won, it would’ve been a disaster.

So, what you’re seeing when I have “joy” on my face is relief – relief that I won a trip, which was the main thing I set out to do, and relief that it looks like I’m actually gonna win the game. So, even though I had a few missteps (such as honey bun, and others we’ll get to), I could beat myself up a little, but I didn’t have to worry toooooo much, maybe because if you win, you win (kind of – I still beat myself up for mistakes, but at least you won, nonetheless)!

So, anyway, there you have it. I’m not actually sure which feels better – joy or relief, because I feel relief when I should be feeling joy. But maaaaaaaaaaan oh man oh man oh man does that relief feel OH so good!

And this is where I’ll pick up tomorrow.

Picking up from yesterday –

So, I always think the absolute most ridiculous thing on Wheel of Fortune is when Pat asks someone if they want to get on the express and they say no. Like, why, why, why, why, why, why, why would anyone ever say no? It doesn’t make any sense to me?

I guuuuuuuuuuess if you have the million dollar wedge(?)… like… I dunno… like… maybe. But the chances of you actually getting the million in the bonus round is so infinitesimally small, and you’re much more likely to make it to the bonus round if you have money.

Plus(!) you have to trust yourself! You’re on Wheel of Fortune! You should generally know the puzzles. You’re there to win. Now… I know… big words coming from someone who didn’t know “honey bun” and like, okay, fine, I guess.

But the prize puzzles are all so similar, and I think you should take the chance you’ll know it, because at the very least, I trust myself more than I trust the wheel itself. So, I always think it’s weird when people don’t take the chance.

And I especially think it’s weird when they don’t have something special that they’re gambling (like a million dollar wedge). What are you scared of?! Get on the express!

I GUESS you’re always gambling losing control of the puzzle, even if you have nothing. But guess what? That’s gonna happen if you call a wrong letter either way! So, if all you’re worried about is losing control of the board, might as well make yourself 100% in charge in that instead of leaving it up to the chance of the wheel.

So, when Pat asks me if I’m gonna do the “express thing,” and I say, “of course, I have to,” like… I meant it. I felt I really had to. It would’ve been a thing crazy to not do.

So, again – I play a little more conservatively than I’d imagined before getting there. And the next thing I call is an “i” – wasting $250 on a vowel.

But I do it because I absolutely cannot lose. I am given the freaking golden opportunity. People – including me – dream of landing on express. I was gifted this insane thing that’s so unlikely. If I screw it up, like… oh boy.

So, I go in order of what I’m absolutely most sure of. And while I’m almost certain the bottom word is “location,” I go for “i,” because “tion,” is the thing you can be most sure of in that word. And at that point, I didn’t know the first word, so any information I get in the second is giving me information in the first.

Then I go for L – again, almost sure it’s location. Of the 3 letters remaining in that word (L, C, A,), L is the one in RSTLNE, so it’s the “safest” one (in my mind) to pick of those 3. And it’s exactly where I think it’s gonna be.

Now, at that point, I’m still not completely sure of the first word. You would think I would know “oceanfront” by now, but I don’t. What I do know is that there are only 2 possible remaining vowels. And what I reasonably know is that the second word is location. So, since A is very safe, I go ahead and buy it.

So, if it’s in the first word I’ll have it in the first word. And they tell you when there are no more vowels. So, if U would’ve been in there, I would’ve bought it next, as it would’ve been guaranteed to be in the puzzle if it was the only vowel left and there were to have still been vowels in the puzzle. And if not (as it wasn’t), I would know I’m only going after consonants (which I did).

You can actually see me looking over to the board to see if U disappears when I call A. [I’ll go over that board, in another part of this series, if you’re not already familiar.]

I see U disappear. I look at the board. “Oceanfront location” now becomes clear. You can almost see me solve it in my head.

Then, I clearly know it once I just start calling the last letters.

And then I oh so carefully pronounced “oceanfront location.” They made a HUGE deal about how we had to overly pronounce things. I didn’t want to leave off that t in “oceanfront” with lazy pronunciation or anything.

Oh my goodness gracious. And then if it isn’t just absolute pure bliss after that. You can see that I just seem like the happiest person who ever lived in that moment. My hands are shaking in front of my face.

Then I can’t hug Pat Sajak because of Covid protocols. (We shot on March 13 – the day everyone pretty much remembers as the day that most things shut down. So, we didn’t know what was ahead for everyone, but we knew we weren’t allowed to touch anyone – especially Pat and Vanna, which was sort of awkward, but we all got by!)

And this is where I’ll pick up tomorrow!

Picking up from last time –

So, if you know me at all, you know I’m absolutely ultra-competitive, and I really hate to lose. So, of course I hated losing this puzzle.

Here are the things I try to tell myself to make myself feel better hahaha.

1. So, I had $2,750 with only one instance of one consonant remaining in the puzzle. Thus far, on my first two spins in the puzzle, I had spun one full rotation plus three spots. On my third one, I guess I had a little more oomph, because I had a full rotation plus 5.
   
   Even if you go back to how I was spinning on the first puzzle, for the most part, I was doing one rotation plus three spots. That wasn’t on purpose. It’s basically impossible to try to aim the wheel with everything going on – especially because even as giant of a fan as I am, I didn’t have the wheel memorized in any kind of way in which I could’ve actually known what was how many away from each spot.
   
   But anyway, one rotation away plus 3 from where I was would’ve been bankrupt – which would have been a LOT less embarrassing, but it also wouldn’t have gotten me anything.
   
   Now, one rotation plus 5, had I been able to do that again would’ve been the free play, which would’ve been cool. But, say that I would’ve called U, then 3 away from that is $800, and 5 away is $650, so no giant money values. Like, my reasonably best case scenario would’ve been getting another $4,050 from that puzzle – which is absolutely nothing to sneeze at. But that’s sometimes an editor’s weekly, so to try to put my brain at ease, I don’t think about how awesome it would be to have an extra four grand. I just try to think of it as an attainable amount of money (that at some points of my life have been much easier to get very quickly than others haha).
   
   Heck, I ‘lost’ more than $4,000 in the first puzzle when I spun a lose a turn. So, money comes and goes, babyyyy!!!
   
   Now, there is a slightly more far off possibility – had I landed on free play, then 4 in the rotation away was the trip, and of course that would’ve been nice. But I’m gonna drive myself crazy if I just start thinking of all the things it could’ve been.
   
   Of course I would’ve loved to have played it out to be sure, but it doesn’t look like the absolute mistake (but man oh man would it have been nicer to spin bankrupt than gotten something wrong, aye, aye, aye.
2. My dad is amazing at “handling” me (as he probably should be after all these years haha – ever since I was a middle schooler hiding under a bench for an hour, crying over a silver in the math pentathlon, or yelling at him, not to say “good job” if I struck out in tiny girl softball, because clearly, empirically, it was not a good job, so how dare he lie like that haha).
   
   But, he tried to make me feel better as well, by being like “this wasn’t a puzzle you specifically were super expected to know. You’ve never even eaten a Honey Bun in your life. It’s a phrase you’re not really familiar with. You gotta forgive yourself.
   
   Good advice, daddy.
3. Lastly, even if I had trusted my gut and gone with “u,” I still might not have known it, quite honestly!
   
   I can’t say this with certainty, since it didn’t happen, but I think I’m more apt to think of “honey bug,” like a cute little nickname, before I would think of “honey bun.” [And “honey bug” does have tons of google results, so it’s definitely not just a think in my head.
   
   I mean, I was thinking RSTLNE, so because of that, I maybe would’ve leaned into “honey bun,” but it’s really tough to say.

So, it’s embarrassing. It sucks. I never wanted to call a wrong letter. But alas, here we are. I did it. Well, time to get our heads back in the game.

(Funnily enough, this isn’t me just trying to put a positive silly thing in the blog, like ‘let’s get our head in the game, everybody!’. It was also something that happened during the commercial break.

Contestant coordinator people would go up to contestants, give us water, and people would come fix our make-up. And they’d be like “that puzzle’s over. Anything can happen. Let’s gear up for what’s next!” Almost like you’re a fighter in the ring with your individual coach.

And we’ll move onto the next puzzle tomorrow!

Picking up from last time –

So, for anyone who hasn’t seen it, it was a crossword puzzle. It’s hard to write out a crossword in letter form, but I had B_ _, and we knew it wasn’t Bee, both because Steve had called E, and because BEE was visible in another part of the puzzle. (I’m assuming he called E to get Honey Bee.)

We had B _ _, B E _ _ and B _ _ _ _ _ remaining.

I was reasonably certain B_ _ _ _ _ was “badger,” so I started by calling R because that is a super common/popular letter. So, once I think I know what a word is, I generally want to call either the most popular/common seeming letter, so hopefully even if it’s not that word, it’s somewhere else, or I want to call the most likely letter to be in that word (e.g. if a suffix is “tion” or in this case “er,” so R won on both counts.

I called it, and it was where I thought it was for honey badger. And then, at the same time, I got BE_R.

Now, that is almost certainly bear. I think there’s an even bigger chance that BE_R is “bear” than that B_ _ _ ER is “badger,” so while I make fun of myself for how conservatively I ended up playing, I went ahead and called A, because why not. I still didn’t know B_ _.

And I was hoping the A would either show up there, or let me know if there were still other vowels that needed to be called that weren’t A (so in that case, buying A wasn’t a teeeeeerrible call – that one kinda makes sense).

So, I went ahead and got the A for assurance [even though what else could’ve been there], and for hope for help with the 3-letter-word (though it did not help me). And then, I went ahead and called D and G for badger, in no special order because they each just had one. So, I just kinda went in order of the word.

And then we’ve already talked about what happened after that. I decided to call a vowel. My gut said U. I second guessed myself. I wish I wouldn’t have, but I did. (Trust your Guuuuuuuuuuuut!) And I lost control of the puzzle.

And this is where I’ll pick up next time with three more small silly things about this puzzle.

Picking up from yesterday –

Aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye.

What was I DOING?!

So, I obviously have watched and studied Wheel of Fortune a lot. And I know that if you don’t know, you should just spin, because in spinning, it will give you slightly more time to think, and there’s a possibility that you’ll land on Free Play.

Like, intellectually, I know that. But, there was something about the fact that I just reeeeeeally had no sense of what the word was. And we still had S, L, and N left of “RSTLNE” and I just couldn’t plug in fast enough which of those I thought it would be – though reasonably, of course it’s N, because BOS and BIS aren’t real words for Wheel of Fortune. And honey BUS isn’t a thing, I don’t think. BIL, BOL, and BUL aren’t words. So, like… Obviously it’s N, and that would’ve been the safest guess. And part of me was even leaning toward saying N, because I was able to work out some of this in my head, in the moment. But I couldn’t “check my work” fast enough, and I also thought it might be something outside of the RSTLNE letters.

So, right in that moment, I just for some reason thought a vowel would help me more – which I completely own was stupid. I dunno.

And I also thought I would be beyond devastated if I landed on the $10,000 (mystery) space and didn’t actually know the letter. [But we’ll get to what space I ‘probably’ would’ve landed on in a second.]

I didn’t even expect the puzzle to get to me. The person who spins first, it feels like rarely gets to play in the second puzzle. So, I didn’t think it’d be coming to me. And if it did, I especially didn’t think it’d be coming so fast.

Of course I was trying to figure it out. I’m always trying to figure it out. But sadly, in this case, I just couldn’t figure it out fast enough, and I didn’t use good enough reasoning of the right moves to make.

Also, it was kind of interesting because, like I said, I never thought it would get to me. And after watching back Ben’s performance, I kind of think he maybe just called “popular letters.” I mean, I dunno. Obviously, you’d have to ask him. But I don’t see where the T he called would’ve gone, and in the prize puzzle he called an S, when I thought N made much more sense. So, anyway, for whatever reason, it made it to me and –

I played this whole game slightly more conservatively than I envisioned. My goal going into it was gonna be like “vowels? What are those?!” And basically never call them. But gah!

I didn’t call any vowels in the first puzzle, but in this one, I did –

And this is where I’ll pick up next time!

Picking up from last time –

Aaaaaaaagh! Yes! I know it was annoying to watch me not know the second puzzle. I was more annoyed living it.

I LOVE when they brought the crossword addition to Wheel of Fortune.

A lot of times my friends and I will play this game where we try to figure out the entire crossword before a contestant guesses a single letter – just by using the clue at the bottom and number of letters in each word. Usually the crossword puzzles are pretty freaking doable.

I was shocked that it even made it over to me – especially when, to me at least, “bear” seemed so clear. And then, after bear, I obviously thought badger was clear [hence why I called those letters].

I was so stoked that somehow the second puzzle made it over to me. Of course I wanted to solve it. But alas, I obviously just merely did not know what that small word was.

*sighs in embarrassement*

Here’s the really embarrassing part – and I don’t even have to share this, since you can’t see into my brain. But, I’m going to anyway!

Whenever there’s a crossword puzzle, before anything even comes up – before a single empty letter is shown – I immediately start rolodexing my brain as quickly as I can for any words that would fit with the clue. And then when the crossword comes up, I see if any of them fit (based on number of letters), and where they would cross, etc.

Well, the first word (the first!) word that came into my mind was “bunches” (like honey bunches of oats). I saw that “bunch” was one letter too short and “bunches” was one letter too long for the spot where badger was, so I threw it away out of my brain.

I didn’t think to take the bridge from “bunches” to “bun.”

Then, even when I was going to call a vowel, U was on the tip of my tongue! I was reeeeeeally really thinking U for some reason! I didn’t know it, but my gut said U (which makes sense in this case! u makes more letters that make sense – bum, bug, bun… those feel like potentially they could go with honey… what was O gonna give me? Honey box? I don’t think that’s a thing, though I suppose it could’ve been, I guess). And I psyched myself out completely.

When I said I was going to buy a vowel, I was planning on U, but obviously unsure. And when Pat said “which one” in the voice he did [which, I know he was just fun-ly mocking me, and it’s all good, I’m not blaming him, of course], but when he did it in that unsure voice, for a moment, I just thought he could see into my brain or something, which of course is a little crazy, but I was like “Pat knows. Somehow Pat knows that I’m about to screw up and guess U. Maybe I shouldn’t guess U. Maybe I should guess O. O is generally statistically more likely.”

So, I did.

But the real problem is, I shouldn’t have guessed a vowel at all!

And this is where I’ll pick up tomorrow.

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!

Picking up from yesterday – okay. The first puzzle.

So, I know the puzzle quite literally the moment it comes on the board. No letters up, I know the whole thing.

I’d studied, of course. And our theme week was “Surfin’ Safari.”

The Beach Boys’ first album was called “Surfin’ Safari.” So, I thought they might be involved. I studied both their albums and song titles, just in case.

So, as soon as they said song and artist, I thought, “I bet this is The Beach Boys.” And that fit right after where “by” would be. Then if you looked at the song title, obviously “Good Vibrations” fit right away.

It’s one of their super famous songs. It’s 4 letters, followed by a long word. It’s gonna be ‘Good Vibrations by the Beach Boys’.

That’s why I called the letters in a somewhat weird order. Normally on Song/Artist, you’d call “B-Y” first [in any order you want], because you know “by” is in the puzzle.

I called the y, but left the B, because there were 4 Bs available on the board. I was going to keep spinning until I either landed on $2,500 and called B, or ran out of letters to call, and had to call B since there’d be nothing left but that.

[I also would’ve considered calling B had I landed on a vacation, just to end the puzzle and call it a day, because I reeeeeally wanted a vacation!]

So, I started going to the G and D of “good” early, because I knew there was only one occurrence of each of those letters, and I was trying to save my multiples for higher dollar amounts where possible.

So, yes, had I been watching at home, I might’ve wondered what that weird girl was doing, going in such an odd order. So, to anyone wondering that, that’s what I was doing.

You really, for the most part can’t tell what you’re doing with the wheel – or at least, I couldn’t. I think at home, you might think you can kinda understand more than in person, but I couldn’t get a sense of if there was a way to aim (which would’ve been against the rules anyway), or how “hard” to spin it, etc.

But, I did feel like I kept landing close-ish to bankrupt and/or lose a turn, and I thought if I tried to spin it extra hard, that I might finally get a couple of spaces away from that and feel “safer.”

However, at my normal spins, I was usually doing about 4ish spaces below a full spin. Had I kept doing that, I might not have landed on Lose A Turn – which I did when I tried spinning a little harder. So, I mean, that’s all just kind of luck anyway.

But still, part of me wonders had I just kept spinning along to the “plan,” or at least the rate I happened to be spinning, and not changed it up and tried spinning too hard, if I woulda landed on something nicer…

(If I *had* stayed in the pattern of landing 3 spaces to the right after I landed on Free play, it would’ve been $800, then $500, and then $2,500! But you just never know. I’m sure it’s hard to stay in an exact pattern – and it was one I was clearly not aware of while spinning anyway.)

So, why didn’t I just solve if I knew the puzzle?

Well, I guess let’s get into that tomorrow.

Picking up from yesterday –

So, the little “Pat’s chat” part –

Lots of people on the internet made fun of me for being a “theater kid.” And tbh, I probably kind of deserve it.

For the record, I did not super want to talk about that!

Of course I think BMI is cool and everything. I’ve only done, I dunno, about a million-part blog series about it on this very blog. So, yes, I love it.

However, to strangers who don’t know me and are getting to learn a minute or so of info about me, I would NEVER open with what I’m studying. Ever. What you’re aspiring to do is not as interesting – to strangers – as what you’ve done.

But you have to say you “do” something for a living. And it’s not interesting to say you work in TV. They know I work in TV. They made sure I didn’t have any conflicts. I’ve never worked on the Sony lot, or on anything related to Wheel.

But it’s still not interesting when Pat is like “what do you do?” to be like “oh, I’m a TV editor.” So, I couldn’t very well say that. But you can’t just say you do nothing. “Blogger” is not a real job.

So, what we landed on was that I was in my writing program – because I am in it. But if it were up to me, we woulda skipped “what do you do” all together.

I bet I could’ve pushed a whole lot harder for that. But I didn’t want to be trouble or anything. And I just thought it was sort of inescapable, based on all the Wheel interviews I’ve ever seen. So, eh.

One thing that was really fun though, and that I was super looking forward to, is that all the time if someone says they’re “from LA,” Pat will ask something like “but where are you really from?”

So, being a girl who was a baby out here in Culver City – whose parents used to joke about her teeny tiny little sunburned fat rolls (where I’d be tan on the outside of my arm, and you’d push my tiny ‘Michelin Man’ fat rolls on my baby arm apart, and the spaces in between would be all not-tan (a little ‘fun fact’ my parents love to tell haha)) – I was SO excited to say “this is HOME!” Yeeeeeeah! Where are you reeeeally from? I’m a California girl, and e’rybody knows it!

One interesting fact I really liked – and they seemed to too(!) – is that every year on my birthday, I do something I’ve never done before!

Pat even asked me about it. He asked what I did this year, and I was like “bungee jumping forward and backward and in the dark!”

It was fun. But alas, it got cut from broadcast! [Oof haha.]

I’m sorry, America, that you had to learn one of my less interesting facts. Love you xo haha

I’ll pick up here tomorrow!

I don’t 100% know where to start, because I know there are a LOT of questions – including wanting to know everything that leads up to showtime.

I really want to do the play-by-play of the show before I do anything else, because I always feel like game theory comes first, and that’s kind of the meat of it all. So, I’m gonna start with the show, and then I’ll get to the rest of the stuff.

So, the show!

On basically every toss-up in the show, until the last one, I ring before I know it. 3 of 4 times that worked out well for me. Once I just got slightly too ahead of the buzzer.

(And once, I didn’t ring early. I rang after I knew it. And I would’ve been beaten by someone else, except he got it wrong. Overall, I stand by ringing early being the best strategy.)

I kind of co-opted Ken Jennings’ strategy which is to trust yourself that you know the answer. Ring in just before you know it. And then hope that in the split seconds of the ring and the host calling your name, you know it.

I was preeeetty sure the first one was Catching a Great Wave. So, I went for it.

The next one, as I rang in, my brain process was like “That second word is north or south, I bet. And that 3rd word – pacific, right? That makes the most sense for the last word, especially in this theme week. So, if it’s with pacific, it’s most likely south. The South Pacific.

Good thing I got it when I did because what I didn’t realize in person, but you see clearly when you watch the tape is that Ben was ready to jump on that. And I would’ve HATED to go second. That’s the worst spot for sure. The whole game could’ve been different in a terrible way (for me) had I gone second.

Funnily enough, speaking of what order you go in, when I was thinking of strategies for the show, I considered intentionally throwing the second puzzle so I would have the opportunity to go 3rd. I think 3rd is the sweet spot – because you start control of the all important prize puzzle.

I asked a couple of my friends who’d been on Wheel if they thought that was a good idea. They both said no. So much is left up to chance, and you definitely don’t want to go second. So, better to take your $2,000 and at least get in the second-best position (which is to go first).

So, that’s what I did.

And I’ll pick up here with more tomorrow!

Oh boy. Here we go.

Check your local listings!

Generally, it’s on ABC around 7pm or 7:30, depending on where you live.

I’ll see you tomorrow, and like all game shows, we’ll talk aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaall about!

xoxoxo