Sony make.believe

Sony Pictures USA / Television
William and Linda W.

William and Linda W.

Theme Week:
Beaches
Contestant:
William and Linda W.
Hometown:
Phoenix, AZ
Week of:
March 22, 2010

Posted on 3/22


My story begins with William, my 21-year-old, mildly autistic son.  William has been a game show fan since, well, since he could comprehend TV.  At first, it was Nickelodeon and Disney game shows, but he quickly zoned in on the network shows, with Wheel of Fortune always being one of his favorites.  So, as soon as William turned 21 last August, he announced that he was going to apply for Wheel of Fortune and did so on-line.  Every day, he would watch the show to practice.  If I was home from work in time, I would watch with him, amazed at how well William could figure out the puzzles.  And at the end of each show, William would say, "Well, they should be calling me any time."  And while I would respond positively, "Yep, any day now," I would always be thinking "Yeah, good luck with that idea."

Then in January, I came home from work to have William meet me at the door, as excited as I've ever seen him.  We received an email inviting William and a family member to audition for Family Week!  The auditions were being held at the Culver City Radisson, about a 7-hour drive from our home in Phoenix, which made me hesitate at first.  But I quickly realized that this was one of those once-in-a-lifetime opportunities, and if nothing else, a great adventure we would remember.  So on the morning of January 20th, William and I hopped in the car and headed for Culver City.  Our audition was at 3:00pm, and we got to the hotel at about 1:00pm, giving us time to change clothes, have some hot chocolate and relax.  Finally, we were called into the audition, along with about 50 other family pairs.

First, each pair (remember, this was for Family Week), gave their names and relationship, then the coordinators called each pair randomly to try and solve puzzles.   When William and I were called, William called out 3 consonants, a vowel and solved the puzzle, without letting me get a word in edgewise!  When reminded that he had a partner, William said "I'm sorry, but I'm just too excited to help myself!"  We then had to take a 5-minute written test- we had different tests, so no peeking!  Then we waited for our tests to be graded; William got up and walked around talking to other contestants, while I just sat and talked to those around me.

When the contestant coordinators came back, they said that if they called your names, you would stay for the rest of the audition, and to please acknowledge that you heard them.  To my surprise, the first thing I heard was "William and Linda", and William let out a yell so loud that the poor lady in front of us jumped!  For the second part of the audition, William again took over, solving another puzzle and barely let me get a word in edgewise.  But this was okay with me; after all, this was his dream and I was only a supporting player.  We were all told that we would either get a phone call if we would be on the show, or, if they only wanted one of us to be on the show another time, that person would get a letter.

Driving back to Phoenix that night (in the pouring rain- an adventure in itself), I thought about the day and was certain that we would not get a call, but that William would get a letter to be on the show himself.  For the next week, William told everyone about our adventure and checked the phone for messages as soon as he would get home each day.   Then exactly one week after the auditions, I got the call on my cell phone from a contestant coordinator - we would both be on the show!  The coordinator also called William, who promptly started calling every relative he had a phone number for.  J  By the end of the week, I don't think there was anyone we knew that didn't know we would be on Wheel of Fortune.

We drove to Culver City the night before our taping, getting to the hotel about 11:00pm.  As an added bonus, William's grandmother (another big game show fan) met us at the hotel; my brother had flown her out from Maryland to join my husband and daughter in the audience. The next morning, William and I got up early (I'm not sure he even slept that night), had breakfast, and then hopped on the shuttle to the studio.  The whole morning preparing for the show was amazing.  Everyone, from the contestants coordinators to the make-up crew to even the legal guy making sure we understood everything in the contract, were helpful, friendly, informative and enthusiastic. We got to practice on stage, with the audience coming in, cameras moving about, everything you would see on the real show except for Pat and Vanna.  We were chosen for the fifth show being taped that day, with William and I in the middle position.  Along with all of the other contestants, we got settled in the audience to watch and cheer on new friends as their shows were taped.  Then it was our turn- with everything the crew did, by the time we were actually walking onto the set for our taping, we felt perfectly comfortable and ready to play.

Watch us on March 26th to see how we did, and check back for the post-game blog!

And if you're in the north Phoenix area, please join us at our viewing party at Peter Piper Pizza starting at 6:00pm, to watch Wheel of Fortune with us and have some pizza and wings.  The party will also be a fundraiser for our local Special Olympics team and Challenger Division Little League.