 "Photo: Courtesy of Carol Kaelson")
Three university students recently spun the big wheel on the weekday game show Wheel of Fortune. Sophomore Charles Wallace and seniors Sarah Raulli and Chris Gage are all contestants on upcoming episodes of the show.
Gage’s episode will air tomorrow at 7:30 p.m. on the local Channel 6 station, Wallace’s will air March 17 and Raulli’s on Jan. 1.
Each of the three students applied for the show by filling out an online application and were then selected for the auditioning process.
“Honestly, you just go online and write your name and e-mail if you are a college student,” Wallace said. “I think they just choose you randomly.”
Raulli said she has always watched Wheel of Fortune, but started making it an evening event with her roommate.
“We used to always make dinner together and watch Wheel of Fortune,” Raulli said. “We would joke around that we were always better than the people on the show and that we should win the money.”
For Gage, his Wheel of Fortune experience began with a love of game shows.
My roommates can tell you that the Game Show Network is pretty much on all the time in my apartment,” Gage said. “I chose Wheel of Fortune because it looks like a really fun game show to play, and I watch it often and can usually solve the puzzles –– so I thought I would give it a shot and see how I could do.”
Wallace and Raulli auditioned at the end of May in New York City and Gage auditioned in Boston in August.
Gage, Raulli and Wallace all described the same audition process. The audition started with a puzzle game similar to the game show where each contestant was given two turns to either yell a letter, buy a vowel or solve, Raulli said.
“You have to show enthusiasm and show you can follow the rules and be animated,” Wallace said. “You have to win them over.”
For the second round, each contestant was given five minutes to solve as many written puzzles as they could. The puzzles were then graded and names were called if players made it to the final round, Raulli said.
During the final round, a real game was played with groups of five contestants taking turns, Gage said.
“I solved it and I acted really excited so they could see how I would act on the show,” Raulli said.
Gage said his entire audition took approximately four hours.
Right after auditioning, Raulli still was not sure if she was going to be chosen for the show. But just in case, she bought a downloadable computer game to practice on.
“I just play the game and it helps you recognize letter patterns like ‘ing’,” Raulli said. “It gets you familiar with the categories and the things they normally have on Wheel of Fortune.”
Besides playing the computer game, Raulli said she watched and played along to Wheel of Fortune every weeknight like she had in the past.
Wallace also downloaded a Wheel of Fortune application on his iPod touch.
After the audition, the contestants were told they would receive a letter in approximately two weeks if they were chosen, Raulli said.
After school let out for the semester, Raulli received a letter congratulating her for being chosen for Wheel of Fortune. The letter said she could begin taping in the next 18 months but that the show could only give her two weeks notice before filming because taping dates are not set in stone, she said.
“I just heard three weeks ago that my taping date was tomorrow,” Wallace said. “They don’t give much time.”
Gage received a phone call about a week after the audition offering him a position on Wheel of Fortune’s College Week.
“Well, actually it’s one of my life goals to get on a game show,” he said. “I thought ‘Wow, this is great, I fulfilled one of my life goals’.”
Last week, Wallace and Raulli both flew to Los Angeles to film their episodes of Wheel of Fortune. Wallace, who filmed on Thursday, said he was told to arrive at the studio at 7:15 a.m. and could be there as late as 7:30 p.m.
Gage, who filmed on Sept. 4, said the morning of filming was spent practicing numbers and getting acquainted with the set.
“In the morning they gave us a debriefing of all the rules,” he said. “There are a lot of rules, let me tell you.”
Raulli, who filmed on Friday, said during the morning, groups of three were formed and names were drawn to see which contestants will play against each other in the six different episodes filmed throughout the day. Filming did not actually start till around noon, she said.
Since she knew who she would be competing against, Raulli said her group spent most of the day together.
“We all hung out together, going through the rules and rehearsing and having fun with each other,” she said. “We were sitting together and having friendly talk.”
Gage also said his group of contestants began to form friendships during the downtime of filming.
“We vowed we would make a Facebook group and one person took our names and e-mails so we could keep in touch that way,” he said.
The friendly interaction between the contestants during breaks showed during the game, Raulli said.
“During the commercial breaks we would congratulate each other and it was just really fun,” she said. “That’s what I love about the game –– it’s not cut throat.”
Gage said the competition during his show was also more friendly than anything.
“I am never one to be overly competitive,” he said. “It’s supposed to be a fun experience and because we were all college students we had more fun together.”
Gage said he was most surprised with the set of the show and the wheel itself.
“It weighs over 1,000 pounds and it’s much harder to spin than you think,” he said.
Raulli said she also was surprised by the wheel and the set as a whole.
“It was different than what I expected,” she said. “When I got on set it was surreal. The wheel was smaller than I pictured but still really heavy, and although the set is big, it seems bigger on TV.”
Wallace is a little nervous about being on TV but said he cannot wait for the experience. Raulli, on the other hand, is more excited for the experience.
“I just think it’s going to be so much fun,” she said. “I am not really trying to be competitive; I just want to have fun with it. It’s a once in a lifetime experience.”
All three contestants said that although they are allowed to disclose the results of their shows, they want to keep it a surprise.
“I will tell you this much, the game was really exciting,” Gage said. “It was a very close game and anyone watching the show will be hooked to the very end.”
Raulli said her game was also very close, mainly because of the knowledgeable contestants.
“I will tell you that you don’t know who will win overall until the very end. It’s not a clear cut thing,” she said. “My parents said it was one of the most fun shows filmed that day.”
Wallace did say that he missed the bonus round by $170 but that the whole game was very competitive and really close.
“It was one of the best experiences of my life and I will never forget it,” he said.
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