Contestant Blogs
This Week's Contestant
Melissa T.
| Theme: | Military Spouses |
|---|---|
| Hometown: | Olathe, KS |
| Week of: | 07-09-2012 |
POSTED on Thursday, July 12th, 2012
So it's finally here... the day of my show! I really can't believe this is happening. You know that feeling you have like you might be dreaming and then you realize it's not a dream because there is no way a dream would last this long. It wasn't until I made my way down to the lobby of the hotel that it really hit me. I was going to be on the Wheel of Fortune!
As I was waiting for the shuttle I noticed a few of the contestant looked a little familiar to me. I remembered a few of them from the try-outs a few months ago. As we made our way onto the bus you could definitely feel the excitement in the air. As with most military spouses we began bonding right away. You have to understand that because we move around from state to state and base to base so often we have this great ability to make friends anywhere. I remember stepping off of the bus and looking around thinking to myself, is this really happening. I can't believe I'm about to meet Pat Sajak and Vanna White!!!
Ok so it doesn't really work like that. You don't just walk in and Pat and Vanna are waiting to greet you. As a matter of fact I didn't even meet Pat until the game actually started. I'll get to that in a moment... first I want to tell you just what it is like to be a contestant. After we got off the bus we were greeted by the Wheel of Fortune staff members. These are the people that make dreams into reality. Once we were settled in we got right down to business. And boy do I mean business. I can't remember the last time I filled out so many forms. I didn't realize what all had to be done before I could even step foot into the studio with the big wheel. So as we are all filing out our forms, groups of two are going into the other room to have make-up applied. I can't express to you how talented and patient the two make-up artists were.
Alright, forms are done, make-up is on, numbers are drawn to pick the show order, and we even got to do a few practice rounds on the wheel. Now it's time for the first group of three to do their taping. I was a very surprised at how fast the first show was. Well, the second and third shows came and went, not as fast, but still not too bad. By now my nerves had calmed down quite a bit. That was until I realized I was on the next show! Here's the thing... all I wanted was to solve a puzzle or two. I didn't need to be the grand prize winner or anything. I just wanted to make my family proud.
Well, I think I made them proud. Not only did I solve a puzzle... I won a car!!!! Not just one car, I won TWO cars!!! Not only did I win two cars I won the prize puzzle trip!!! And to top it off I went to the bonus round... I solved it!!! Make a Wish... that was the answer to my puzzle. Was this really happening? I can't believe it! I ended up going home with two cars, a trip to New Orleans and 10,000$!!! And at the end I finally got my chance to shake hands with Pat Sajak and Vanna White. This was a total dream come true!!! Thank you Wheel of Fortune for starting 2012 off with a bang! And boy oh boy do I mean bang.