America's Game

Yesterday I spent 4.5 hours trying to audition to be on The Wheel of Fortune. It was in Ontario at the Mathis Brothers Furniture Store, about a 45 minute drive for me.

I got there around noon. The Mathis Brother's is HUGE...bigger then Costco huge. The parking lot was already full, so the security guy was giving directions to an Arena for parking. Considering where he was telling me to drive, I was really worried I was going to have a long walk ahead of me. Even tho it was a good distance drive wise, it wound up circling around and the arena was located at the back of the Mathis Brothers. I think I actually wound up walking less, the line was at the back corner of Mathis Brothers! As I got in line and felt the sun beating down on me, I realized that maybe I should have brought something to drink while I waited in line.

The lady in front of me struck up a conversation with me and it helped to pass the time. She had driven two and a half hours to get there! We were in line for an HOUR before we even got inside. this is what we saw once we got into the air conditioning.
At this point, I was just excited to have made it inside! While we were milling around in line talking about all the different furniture they started to pass out the applications!

I started to fill it out....then I remembered I should take a picture of it LOL. So please excuse the black boxes 8) Shortly after filling out the application the line started to move. When we reached the escalator I was super excited. Then I realized how much more walking would be involved. They had use weaving around the store. A lot of people were commenting on how they wanted us to see as much furniture as was possible. As we got closer to the audition area you could hear them starting to work up the crowd, and let me tell you, it was a huge crowd!

This was my original view of the stage. Those are the traveling host's. I can't remember his name...I think it's Ken, but her name was Heidi. They put all the applications into a gold drum and then the contestants were drawn from there. They did 5 at a time and it was played like the speed round. They had 3 seconds to pick a letter, and then if their letter was on the board they had 3 seconds to solve before it was the next person's turn.

The lady on the stage in that picture is the lady I stood in line with the whole time. 2 rounds after her someone else I was by got called up. I thought it was going to be me for a second because of how they drew the name out when they called it. Her name was Norriss, mine is Nora, so you can see why I got excited for a minute lol.

I wound up not being one of the lucky few to get called up. I even stayed and did the audition after the one I did. I had to go back through the line, but at that point the line was already upstairs, so i figured it was worth another shot. There is still a chance that they will pick my application for me to come to the final auditions. If it is picked, I'll get a letter or an email within the next month, so I am keeping my fingers crossed. Here's a few more pictures for you to enjoy.

Better view of the stage. You can see the orange applications in the golden drum.

Me in front of the Wheel Mobile


The other part of the Wheel Mobile

And then, one last picture just for fun 8)



Riley, my 2 year old watching The Wheel of Fortune, trying to do Vanna White's job. She had just turned over the H lol.