Vicky Haas, one of the guidance and college counselors at BSM, recently auditioned to be on the game show Wheel of Fortune. Haas was asked to be on the show and filmed her episode in Los Angeles. It will air on Thursday, February 22nd on WCCO, channel 4 at 6:30 pm CST.
Haas first auditioned for Wheel of Fortune about 10 years ago but did not hear back until recently. About four months ago, the idea sparked and Haas decided to go for it. She auditioned right there in her car, even filming her audition video. “I’ve always wanted to be on Wheel of Fortune. I watched it when I was growing up and was always like, ‘This would be a cool experience—to be on Wheel of Fortune!’” Haas said.
She did not hear back for a couple of weeks, but then, Wheel of Fortune contacted her, asking for her to come in for an interview. Haas was on Zoom with a few other potential candidates and played a mini-game of Wheel of Fortune. “I got an email saying that I was selected to be on the Wheel of Fortune and that I had to be in LA three weeks later. So I booked my flights that night, booked my hotel, and was ready to go,” Haas said.
When Haas arrived in Los Angeles, there were 21 other contestants with whom she filmed the show, covering six episodes in just one day. “It was kind of this walking on clouds moment—I couldn’t believe that I was actually there on Wheel of Fortune,” Haas said.
In the weeks leading up to the filming, Haas practiced doing puzzles for hours each day to be sure she was prepared for the show. Haas thought she would be pretty good at the game, so she was not extremely nervous. “I thought to myself ‘What’s the worst that can happen?’ I get to go home with an amazing experience. If I go home with money and a prize, that’s awesome, but I’ve already made it,” Haas said.
While filming the show, Haas became friends with many contestants and still talks to them today. “It’s a unique thing that brought us all together. There were people from Florida all the way to Texas, and now we’re just chatting about life. It’s funny how we became friends from this one experience,” Haas said.