Evelyn Barge
A&E Assistant Editor
Photo Courtesy Wheel of Fortune
Junior Jessica Day laughs with
Pat Sajak after winning $16,550
Fortune’s unpredictable wheel has spun, spelling out excitement, fun and cash prizes for several Pepperdine students.
Since the “Wheel of Fortune” Wheelmobile came to Pepperdine last spring, four students have competed on the game show and walked away with cash winnings and other prizes.
Senior telecommunications major Craig Ries was the biggest winner with $23,650 in cash and prizes. The show Ries appeared on aired Sept. 15.
Jessica Day, a junior integrated marketing and communications major, won $16,550 cash on an episode that aired in May.
Sophomore theater major Micah Hardt won $8,900 on a show that will air Oct. 15.
Tionna Cunningham, a junior business major, finished filming her episode yesterday. It will air during the last week in October.
Each contestant auditioned for the show when the Wheelmobile was at Pepperdine. These students then need to complete the rest of the audition process.
Photo Courtesy Wheel
of Fortune
Senior Micah Hardt won $8,900
on an episode airing Oct. 15.
“When I heard that the Wheelmobile was coming to Pepperdine, I was way excited,” Hardt said. “I am obsessed with game shows so I would do anything I could to get on one.”
Day said she thought her on-campus audition for the game show had been a failure.
“All my friends were laughing so hard because my posture just completely crumbled when I went on stage and I was mumbling,” she said. “My personality was completely dry.”
Around 250 people tried out for “Wheel of Fortune” when the Wheelmobile came to Pepperdine and about 70 progressed to the next level of competition at the Radisson Hotel in Culver City.
“The second one was much more intense,” Ries said. “They would call your name and you would stand up to play a mock round of the game. Some kids would get called on four or five times. They only called my name once, and I left that audition feeling like I must have messed something up.”
After the second round of auditions, all four Pepperdine students received a letter or phone call inviting them to appear on “Wheel of Fortune” as contestants.
Hardt said he had a good feeling he might be asked back as a contestant.
“When I got the call to be on the show I was still surprised, though,” he said. “I honestly thought my heart was going to jump out of my throat.”
The contestants each said that their day of filming was filled with anticipation and excitement.
Photo Courtesy
Wheel of Fortune
Senior Craig Ries won
the most in cash and
prizes.
“The whole day is very emotional,” Ries said. “They get you up at 7:45 a.m. and, of course, you don’t sleep at all the night before, so you’re just exhausted.”
Day said, although she was nervous the entire week leading up to her tape date, she felt completely at ease during filming.
“The contestant coordinators make you feel so comfortable,” she said. “It was the best atmosphere, and I can honestly say the entire day was pure fun for me.”
All the Pepperdine contestants also said meeting “Wheel of Fortune” co-hosts Pat Sajak and Vanna White was a highlight of their experience.
“When I was waiting to film the bonus round it was just me and Pat standing in front and he held my hand and just told me to stay calm and not worry,” Day said. “I was more excited about holding Pat’s hand than the money I had won.”
Ries said White is remarkably personable and down-to-earth.
“While they were giving us information on taxes, Vanna White came into the room in an orange jumpsuit without any makeup on,” he said. “I was really impressed with that because it’s not something a lot of celebrities would do.”
Six episodes of “Wheel of Fortune” are filmed in a single day, and each Pepperdine student was just one of 18 contestants filming a show at Sony Pictures Studios in Culver City that day.
“I can’t really describe how close you feel to the other contestants,” said Day. “There was such a sense of family because we were all feeling the same emotions … I didn’t feel any competition between these people and myself. We were furiously cheering for everyone.”
Each of the contestants had a unique way of preparing to compete on “Wheel of Fortune.”
“I watched the show a lot to get ideas, but I really studied patterns of words like prefixes and suffixes and letter combinations,” Hardt said.
Ries said he downloaded a “Wheel of Fortune” game for his cell phone and played it at home and during breaks at work.
Cunningham and Day both practiced with “Wheel of Fortune” computer games.
“I drove my roommate crazy playing ‘Wheel of Fortune’ online at every possible moment,” Day said. “She would wake up, eat lunch and go to sleep hearing the sounds of clapping and the wheel spinning.”
No amount of practice prepared the Pepperdine contestants for their biggest challenge: spinning the wheel.
“The wheel is really heavy. It’s basically a big chunk of metal,” Ries said. “They let you practice ahead of time with spinning it and calling out letters because you have to put a lot of effort into it,” said Ries.
Contestants Day and Hardt both advanced to the bonus round of competition, but neither won the final round.
“The category was ‘living thing’ and there weren’t many letters showing up, but I knew it was some kind of bear,” Day said. “I just blurted out ‘Kodak bear,’ which was wrong. The answer was ‘Kodiak bear.’
“Basically, I was one syllable off from winning another $25,000, but I can’t complain.”
All the contestants said their “Wheel of Fortune” winnings will go toward paying off student loans from Pepperdine.
Ries, whose prizes included a $10,000 gift certificate to SonyStyle.com, said he plans to use that portion of his winnings on a plasma TV and other electronics.
“Winning the Sony prize was really exciting because there were two mystery pieces and one was the Sony prize, but the other was a bankrupt,” Ries said. “When I landed on the mystery piece I knew I had to go for it. The whole crowd gasped, but I didn’t go there to play it safe.
“Afterwards, Pat [Sajak] joked with me that I had ice in my veins,” he said.
Cunningham said her godmother has already devised a plan to accommodate the new car she hopes to win.
“She’s worked out this complex rotation cycle for our driveway so that all the cars will fit,” she said.
Each of the contestants from Pepperdine said they were satisfied with their winnings and that appearing on “Wheel of Fortune” was a great experience.
“I knew that all I wanted to do was solve one puzzle,” Hardt said. “I just wanted to say, ‘Pat, I would like to solve the puzzle’ and then get it right. That is exactly what I did and I have no complaints.”
9-30-2004
