Contestant Blogs
This Week's Contestant
Nicole J.
| Theme: | Gone Fishin' |
|---|---|
| Hometown: | Staten Island, NY |
| Week of: | 01-24-2011 |
POSTED 1-26
The actual day of taping the show was most exciting for me. The shuttle came to pick up the contestants at the hotel, and as I spoke with other contestants, it helped to ease my nerves.
When we all arrived at Sony Pictures Studios, the contestant coordinators were waiting to greet us. There was so much to get done in the morning before taping the show. At one point, Vanna White came into the room full of contestants and offered us some words of advice for the day before taping the show. I was star struck because I could not believe the woman most of America watches each night with her beautiful array of dresses, was standing before us. Before we all knew it, it was time to begin taping the show.
The theme for my week was Gone Fishin'. Everything seemed to move so quickly while taping the show and there were many things I had to remember to do. I had to make sure to look up at the puzzle board at all times, look at the used letter board so I would not call out letters already on the puzzle board, smile while cheering on the other contestants, clap, and most importantly, concentrate. After I began to get into the rhythm of the game, I started to feel more at ease and less nervous.
The most exciting part for me during the game was when I landed on the trip to Alaska. At that point, I called a consonant and then immediately solved the puzzle. A lot was riding on this round in particular because it was the prize puzzle round. When Pat came over to congratulate me for winning the round, he said to me after I rest up from Alaska, I should get ready for my trip to Hawaii. I believe my facial expression was priceless! It has been my dream to see Hawaii. The hardest part about playing the game for me was spinning the wheel, which is extremely heavy. It was so important to get a good grip on the wheel to ensure an adequate spin.
As I entered into the Bonus Round, the crew helped to prep me on where to stand, how to spin the wheel, and some strategies to help me during the bonus round. Once the bonus round began, the usual letters came up first. Then I called out three consonants and one vowel. I had the first letter of each word, which was pretty helpful. I knew the first word was "Major" but I continued to look at the letter board to figure out the last word. Finally, the light bulb in my brain went off and I said "Major Overhaul." I could not believe I solved the bonus round puzzle because the second word stumped me a bit. I anxiously waited for Pat to open the envelope, and inside I won $50,000! My mother ran onto the stage and gave me a huge hug! I did extremely well for myself. Not only did I win $50,000, I also won two great vacations that I cannot wait to embark upon this summer!
Appearing on Wheel of Fortune has been a once in a lifetime experience for me, and sometimes I still cannot believe I actually did this! It is great to have an interesting story to tell family and friends about my wonderful experience. I plan to take some of the money to pay off my remaining school loans, and save the rest of the money for future plans. Thank you to the staff at Wheel of Fortune for making my experience truly memorable.