Contestant Blogs

Dee-Dee M.

POSTED on 5-7
I've been a WOF fan for over 30 years. I tried once over 15 years ago to become a contestant. To earn a chance to "spin the wheel" hopeful contestants had to watch the show Monday through Friday, send in the answer to the Bonus Round puzzles on a 3x5 card to KATU studio and hope our name was chosen. I mailed in the answers Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday night but never mailed in Friday night's answer. For me that meant my chance to be a contestant was forever gone.

Lucky for me the Wheelmobile came to Oregon the fall of 2011! I convinced my husband that I just had to tryout. Having no idea what to expect, I was shocked to arrive at Chinook Winds Casino to find hundreds upon hundreds of other hopefuls also hoping for their big chance.

After waiting over 2 ½ hours to get inside the auditorium my entry was not pulled from the huge drum. I told my husband I was getting back in line (as were allowed to try out until the auditions closed for the day). Observing that everyone was simply placing their entries in as a flat piece of paper, I knew the odds were extremely high that once again my entry wouldn't be chosen. The second time through, I waded my entry up prior to placing it in the drawing. To my amazement I was called upon stage!

Once on stage, I was totally excited, eager to win and as nervous as a turkey on Thanksgiving. When it came my turn to "play" the puzzle was "Around The House." I knew the second word was vitamin and I "thought" the first word was prenatal. Well the next person correctly guessed, "Chewable Vitamins". The announcer then said, "Everyone doesn't have prenatal vitamins around the house." I replied, "If you have six kids and 12 grandkids you have prenatal vitamins around the house."

So again I'm thinking my chances are over. Boy was I surprised to receive an email inviting me to audition in my hometown, Portland, Oregon. I still hadn't shared any of this with anyone other than my husband. So at this point I had to tell my employers as it would require time off work. Well I made it through the Portland audition with a small group of others, who were told that we wanted to be sure our mailing information was correct because we would hear within two weeks if we would actually be taping.

I was so excited about the possibility of being chosen that for the first week every time I thought about it I was checking my mailbox. It soon dawned on me that the mailman does not deliver mail at 2:00 a.m. By the Tuesday of the second week, I figured my journey had come to an end. Then my cell phone was ringing at work. I was on a conference call so I couldn't answer it. I didn't recognize the phone number so I let the call go to voicemail. The voice mail started off with "This message is for Dee-Dee. Hi Dee-Dee this is (a coordinator from the show) at WOF...that's all I heard I was screaming like a manic at that point. I WAS GOING TO BE A CONTESTANT!

Watch me spin on Friday, May 11th!