Contestant Blogs

Job & Lauren I.

POSTED 6-25

It all started when my husband, Job, and I bought tickets to Riverbend Festival this summer to celebrate our anniversary. Job is not much for concerts, I think his real motivation was knowing the Wheelmobile was going to be there. He loves the show and we watch it all the time.

It was about 90 degrees that Sat but felt much hotter than that, we put our names in the drawing and we sat out in the sun for about an hour waiting for Job's name to be called to go up on stage. Toward the end they called my name, I was just there to cheer Job on, he is the one that is really good at the game! I asked the staff if Job could take my place but they said no. I did not do very well in my mock round but I guess I did good enough! Job approached them afterwards and asked if there was any way he could still have a chance, they assured him that sometimes they contact others who did not get to come up on stage. A couple weeks went by and we both received an e-mail about second auditions. Job skipped his grad school class that day and we drove back down to Chattanooga.

We were so excited when we made it through the first cut, we had to do a paper quiz with several puzzles...it was not easy and I felt like I was in school again, panicking because I did not think I did well on the test! Next they called us up for a mock round and made us pretend to spin the wheel. When we had to do our introduction I got nervous because I actually don't like being up in front of people, I was surprised I had made it that far! The judges took a picture of Job and I both together and separately and told us there was a chance that if we were chosen they might use us for a couple episode. We checked the mail religiously the next two weeks, it was the last day they said we would hear and Job had given up hope. I checked the mail before he got home and saw an envelope with Wheel of Fortune on it...I could not believe it!

I decided to hide them in the fridge, when Job got home I told them we didn't get the letter and he was so disappointed. When he went to get a drink from the fridge he saw the letters; he went crazy. Our downstairs neighbors later said they thought something was wrong because their ceiling fan was shaking from Job jumping up and down so much. We booked our flights to LA and anxiously awaited our trip while watching every episode of Wheel on TV and on YouTube we could find to practice for our big day. Job even studied common phrases, the most common consonants and vowels used. We are so excited to see it air!

Watch us spin on Friday, June 29th!