Contestant Blogs

Holli R.

POSTED 12-21

So this was it! There I was at Sony Studios and I wasn't sure if what I was experiencing was a dream or was I really about to come face to face with Pat Sajak. When the show began, Pat & Vanna came out looking absolutely amazing, but we had to do a retake because the audience applauded too long. I found this amusing and oddly enough it helped me calm down a little. I was in the red spot closest to Pat and I remember constantly thinking to myself how surreal the whole situation was. The theme was Happy Holidays and I started the game off by answering "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer".

I had to keep my focus though because I could tell my competition was fierce. It is definitely so much harder when the spot lights are on you and you have to remind yourself to speak loud and enunciate (during the first break, one of the contestant coordinators reminded me to hit each letter as hard as I possibly could). On top of making sure everyone could hear me, I had to check out the used letter board, face the appropriate camera and focus on the puzzle NOT the amount I was spinning and landing on. Multi tasking was a must! I felt great after winning a few puzzles, but I ended up picking an incorrect letter on the prize puzzle which helped the guy next to me answer and win a trip to Hawaii. Out of all the people in the audience, I could hear my sister say, "Awwwww!" when he won since Hawaii happens to be her favorite destination spot. I even ended up answering one puzzle wrong and felt as though I threw everything away. Hey! I didn't want to be greedy, right??

When the final bell rang and Pat gave the wheel a final spin, it was still anyone's game. My heart was racing and at the moment, all I could think about was it coming back to me so I could answer the puzzle. Just my luck it did! I yelled out my answer & accumulated enough in cash & prizes to make it to the final puzzle. I had the WILD card which I hoped would help me in the end, but as it turned out I just didn't pick the right letters. Ironically, my puzzle was HINDSIGHT and boy do I have that now!

In the end, Wheel of Fortune has opened up so many doors for me. I do suffer from panic and anxiety attacks, so when I feel one coming on I just remind myself, "Hey! You went up on stage in front of a live audience, not to mention all of America will be watching, gave it your all and ended up winning $18,850 in cash and a $1,000 Bed, Bath & Beyond gift certificate. Whatever it is you're stressing about can't top that AND you made it out alive!" You would be surprised how well that works for me.

I recently took custody of my newborn nephew and I'm in the process of adopting him, so the money I won will be going towards the new love and addition to my life. More than ever, I believe everything happens for a reason and Wheel of Fortune gave me the cushion I need to make sure Baby Jacob is taken care of exactly how he deserves. He will definitely grow up watching the wheel and I hope he will overcome any fears he may have in life when opportunity knocks because you just never know what wedge you will end up landing on!