Selina Simon grew up watching “Wheel of Fortune” with her mother and aunt.
“It was just what we always did – watch ‘Wheel of Fortune,’ and then ‘Jeopardy,’” says the Western Washington University senior from Federal Way, Washington.
She’d signed up online to audition long ago, so it felt seemingly out of the blue when she got an email requesting she audition in Seattle in March.
“I was so excited, I was freaking out,” Selina says. “I didn’t believe it – I was screaming.”
The audition took place at the Edgewater Hotel, where Selina joined about 60 other hopefuls.
“We played a practice round where everyone got to say a letter and smile and clap, so they could see your charisma level,” Selina explains of the process.
Round two involved a 15-question quiz, and a puzzle to solve. Selina moved on to the final round, with about 15 people and did a rundown of what a real show would be like.
They were informed that if they didn’t receive something in the mail from ‘Wheel of Fortune’ in the following couple of weeks, they hadn’t been selected. Selina returned to Bellingham and her classes.
When her mother called to tell her something had come in the mail from the show, Selina didn’t believe her.
“It took me a good week, before I got back down home, until I saw it and believed her,” she says with a laugh.
Contracts were signed and travel arrangements made. All ‘Wheel of Fortune’ contestants must take care of their own travel and hotel arrangements.
For some college students, that would have meant passing on the opportunity to spin the wheel. Luckily for Selina, her boyfriend works for an airline so she was able to fly for free – and take her boyfriend, aunt, and her two roommates along on her alphabet-intensive adventure.
Selina wasn’t nervous on the day of taping. “I had been watching it ever since I was a young girl,” she says, with a laugh. “The only thing I was worried about was if my outfit was going to be okay. You can’t wear too much of a print because it looks too busy on-screen.”
All the contestants – five episodes were taping that day, so a total of 15 people – were prepped for their big moment. Contestant handlers talked them through what to expect and kept them pumped up and excited. They each got to practice spinning the wheel, and went through a dry run before the real deal commenced. Vanna White even stopped into the contestant dressing room beforehand to say hello.
“She just popped in and surprised us before she’d even had her makeup and hair done. She was really nice,” says Selina. “She gave us a little pep talk.”
Selina wouldn’t meet Pat Sajak until the moment, during taping, that he introduced her and said hello.
The studio – which Selina had seen on TV thousands of times – looked exactly the way she thought it would, except smaller.
“They also have a ‘used-letter board’ on the side that tells contestants which letters have been called,” she explains. “You don’t ever see that on TV.”
She wasn’t nervous, but that doesn’t mean everything felt completely normal.
“It was so surreal being up there, touching and spinning the wheel,” she says. “It’s really heavy.”
The entire seven-hour experience seemed to fly by and soon Selina was taping her episode. Round one, two and three – the game just wasn’t going her way.
“The wheel was against me,” she says, laughing. “I’d get some momentum going, gain $3,000 or $4,000 and almost be able to solve the puzzle, but then get a ‘bankrupt’ or ‘lose a turn.’ I called the wrong letter once.”
Finally, on the last round, Pat Sajak spun the wheel and contestants were given a chance to call one letter, and then solve the puzzle; if they couldn’t, play moved on.
The puzzled called for a fictional character. For Selina’s first letter, she chose ‘N.’ There was one, for $1,600. She couldn’t guess the puzzle. On her second try, she chose ‘R,’ with four of them in the puzzle worth an additional $6,400.
She correctly guessed “Harry Potter and Ron Weasley,” and walked away with $8,000.
“It was pretty amazing,” she says. “If you don’t get anything, they send you home with $1,000. But $8,000 – for a college student, that’s a lot of money!”
You can watch Selina Simon’s episode of “Wheel of Fortune” right here.
