It’s finally time to end this story, or is it…go back and read parts one, two and three to get up to speed!
UPDATE: you can read the epilogue with links to video clips here now!
So it is finally time for me to head to the studio and the anticipation is killing me! I spent a lot of time trying on outfits for my hubby before I left so I knew exactly what I was going to wear! They told us to show up with our hair and makeup done so I spent a bit of time trying to get those just right seeing as I was going to be on tv.
Once I was all ready to go I packed up my suitcase and headed down to breakfast. I also wanted to see if I could spot any other potential candidates. I wasn’t very hungry but I knew it was going to be a long crazy day so I munched away on some eggs and fresh fruit and stealthily eyed the lobby.
It wasn’t too long after that that the shuttle came to take us to the studio. The ride there was crazy as we all shared how we ended up there. Turns out most of us were thirty and it was fun to hear other people’s experiences leading up to this moment.
Once we pulled in to the studio it was all business! We had to turn or cell phones off, absolutely no pictures were to be taken and we were locked away in a room. First thing our leader (aka the show coordinator) did was call roll to make sure we had all made it. It was a little bit like being in school because after that she had us pick up a huge stack of forms and the head of the “don’t cheat or else” company read us word for word the entire packet. She also stopped fairly regularly to make us all say we had never done these things and sign in certain sections of the form. While we were in the middle of that process a lady with wet hair walked in and said “hi y’all”. Some people around me started to get super excited and then I realized that this was Vanna White!!!! She is like the tiniest little thing EVER. Super cute and sooooooo nice. She wished us all good luck and told us not be nervous. All of the sudden it got a whole lot realer!
The lovely Vanna White
So after wrapping up with the legal aspect of being on a game show it was time to tour the set and make sure our outfits would work on screen. As we made our way onto the set I was totally surprised at how small it was! It looks so big on tv but it was really quite intimate in person! We are took turns practicing spinning the wheel (which is VERY heavy) and calling or fake letters. They also adjusted our risers so that we would all be at a uniform height. It was fun having so much attention payed to my every need! Then we returned to the holding room to go over all the aspects of the game! While this was going on the took us back to hair and makeup. This was by far the most fun part of the morning! I absolutely loved both the woman doing my hair and the one who did my makeup. I even asked them to come home with me! After we read over all the possible categories and any puzzle that might come up and got all prettied up they broke us in to groups of three.
The puzzle board is really only maybe 50 feet away from the wheel, I don’t know how they make it look so far away on TV!
They filmed 6 episodes that day so one person from each group went up front to draw a sick with a number to see which show we were going to be on. I was partnered with a girl named Autumn and a guy named Billy. Autumn drew for us and we were show 5. It meant that we were going to film the fifth show that day so we had a lot of time to watch and prepare (or get nervous)! Then we went up in our groups of three to randomly draw which color space we were going to stand at. I drew the blue space, which meant I was in the spot furthest from Pat.
The wheel is super heavy and those are very hard metal rods that you have to grab onto to spin it. You have to be careful though otherwise it will “bite” you!
The crew showed us where we were going to be sitting during the filming and told us that there would be audience members sitting in the rows behind us and that we were not allowed to talk to them at all. We settled in to our seats and the first group got all mic’d up and ready on the set. It was exciting and a totally surreal experience! It is amazing how much I wanted these people to win! I had only known them for 6 hours and yet I wanted each and every one of them to walk away with amazing prizes and lots of money. It was really hard to watch as some people didn’t do as well as others and I started to worry about how I would do and how I would react. After the first three shows taped we took a break for lunch. During this hour long break the atmosphere was super relaxed, however we were still not allowed to turn on our phones or take pictures. We also weren’t allowed to leave our holding room except to go to the bathroom! This gave us a great opportunity to get to know each other and I had such s good time visiting with and making friends with all these awesome folks!
This is how big the audience is. The contestants sit in the section behind where this photo is taken, but it looks just the same!
After our break they brought in a new audience and the 4th show contestants got ready to go. As we watched I started to get more and more excited and nervous. As they were wrapping up the bonus round I was backstage getting my mic attached and my hair and makeup touched up. Those girls followed us around all day making sure we all looked our best! We went over what was on our “pat cards” and how we wanted to be introduced. Finally they were leading us out on to the stage! I can’t even begin to explain how strange it is to be in such a familiar setting and yet to be so far from my normal routine. The vintage footage began to roll on our on set monitor and then the music started and put came Pat and Vanna! It all gets sort of crazy and blurry from there (plus I can’t tell you the really juicy details until after it airs tomorrow night) but let me draw you a little picture so you can imagine how hard it is to focus on the task at hand.
Don’t forget you also have to look at the cameras, clap (out of the way of your mic) and smile like a crazed person all while looking at all three of these specials screens and the puzzle board! It is sooo nerve wracking!
