Erin Elmgreen thought she knew what to expect when she took part in a recent episode of Wheel of Fortune, broadcast last Friday.
The former Prince George resident is an experienced game show contestant, having made appearances in both The Prince is Right and Let's Make a Deal. But qualifying for the iconic syndicated show, hosted by Pat Sajak and Vanna White, fulfilled a life-long dream.
Elmgreen made it all the way through two audition processes and then on to the stage for the televised event - but then she had to spin the wheel.
"It's way heavier than I expected it to be," she said. "It's a lot of effort to be able to spin it."
In the end, Elmgreen spun and solved her way to a payday of nearly US$11,000 and had a chance for even more in the bonus round but was unable to guess the final puzzle.
"It was amazing, it was actually a dream come true," she said. "I've been watching it since I was little kid with my mom in Prince George and I always wanted to do it."
When Elmgreen moved to California to work for Fairmont Hotels and Resorts, her dream of competing on the show finally had the chance to become reality, but before she could get anywhere near the studio, she needed to get selected. That's where Elmgreen's lucky streak kicked in.
Dating back to her days in Prince George when she won a trip to see Celine Dion in concert in Vancouver, Elmgreen has always had a knack for winning prizes. Whether it was trips to Hawaii or Asia, concert tickets or cash, she always entered the contests and has won with a surprising degree of regularity.
"People call them the luckiest person they know," she said. "I do feel very lucky and very blessed."
So when she showed up at a contestant recruitment event in Jackson, Calif., about two hours away from her home, the first thing Elmgreen needed was to have her name picked out of a barrel so she could get on stage and strut her puzzle-solving ability.
Two days into the event that happened and from there she zoomed up the contestant list.
"I figured I had a pretty good shot at it because I've been on a couple of game shows before and I sort of know what they're looking for," she said.
At the first audition, Elmgreen was on stage with four other people solving a bunch of Wheel of Fortune style puzzles. She was then called back for a second audition, which featured more competitive puzzle solving and a written test.
Within a few weeks, Elmgreen was selected to appear on a show, which was taped in November. With six shows taped a day, Elmgreen had the chance to watch a few other episodes as a member of the studio audience before taking the stage herself.
At first she was a bit nervous since she was having trouble solving the tossups on the other shows, but when it came her turn to play she was the first to buzz in to solve "alpine adventure" for $1,000 and "A Tale of Two Cities" for $2,000.
"It helped me relax a lot at that point," she said. "Because I really went into the show wanting to win more than the minimum $1,000 that they send you home with if you don't win anything, so right away I'm off the bat at $3,000."
Elmgreen added to her winnings by solving a Before and After puzzle "I slept like a baby boomer" for an additional $1,850, but found herself trailing heading into the final puzzle.
With only the E's, T's and R's selected, Elmgreen had already solved "Bet your bottom dollar" in her head but needed to wait her turn to solve and had to be sure she could get enough money out of it to take the lead.
"I had a big smile on my face when I called the B because I knew in my head that it would give me $3,000 more which gave me a pot of $6,000 which in total gave me $10,850," she said.
In the bonus round, Elmgreen had the chance to win another $30,000, but didn't come up with "majority owner" despite guessing M,D,P and I to go along with the R,S,T,L,N and E on the board.
"I learned a lesson - always go with your gut instinct," she said "I don't know for sure if I would have had it, but I started to say 'O.' When I watch the episode I could see my mouth forming an 'O' and I choose 'I' instead."
Elmgreen said her experience on the show was "exhilarating" and different from her past two game show appearances because she came out the winner. On the Price is Right about a decade ago she failed to make it off contestant's row and on Let's Make a Deal a few years ago she left with $100.
She said both White and Sajak were great to work with and White even stopped by the contestant's lounge before the show to wish everyone good luck.
"They are both really genuinely wonderful people," she said.
