My Post Selection Experience

Here is my post-selection take on my experience. 2 weeks to wait. Running to the dry cleaners. Does this suit still fit? Shirt and tie? Jacket no tie? Full three piece suit? Should I drive up the night before? Bear traffic in the morning? What if my alarm doesn't go off? Should I just stay up all night? No, that's not a good idea. No sleep is a slow brain. What am I going to do about work? The questions that run through your mind when faced with a potentially life altering 23 minutes. Although a short two weeks away, the time can drag and the questions continue to build. Snap forward to August 17th. The time went by much more quickly than I had imagined. I found myself on the 405 freeway about 6am the day before my filming. 4 meetings ahead. A massage booked for 6:30 that night. Finding a hotel in an area I hadn't been to in over a year. I breezed through the work day and *attempted* to check into my hotel early. When I arrived, they had no record of my reservation. An hour was spent on the phone with the site I book my hotels through before we realized what happened. I booked my hotel for the following night! Of course, the room I had booked was non refundable, so I had to jump some hurdles. I ended up figuring out a situation that satisfied both the hotel and the booking agency with no additional money out of pocket. I headed to my room with a heavy head and laid down a while. I went and grabbed dinner in the hotel restaurant and treated myself to a steak. I knew I needed a good meal with the day ahead. After a beer, I headed out to my much needed massage, and man was it worth it! I left so relaxed, grabbed a shower, laid in bed and realized what I faced the next day. Here came the restlessness. I intentionally avoided game shows, and finally found myself waking up at 4:30am the day of my filming. I didn't go back to sleep. I decided I needed some breakfast, and went to find a Denny's near the studio. I figured there had to be something close, so I followed the directions I had brought with me to the studio in Culver City. I drove several blocks in each direction, and no Denny's!!!! I finally made my way back (what ended up being past the hotel I had booked) and grabbed breakfast. I found my way into the studio parking lot about 7a.m., (passing the ghostbusters car on the way in) and parked my car. I went downstairs thinking I would be the first one there. Turns out I was one of the last! A contestant coordinator came out to meet us and bring us into the studio. Once we were all there, we began what seemed to be the longest morning of my life. Between rules, new categories, legal and makeup, we were all sizing up our competition. Everybody that I met that day was a pleasure. We exchanged stories, dreams, hopes and wishes and anxiously awaited our fates. Around about 9am, we were led out to the stage. The feeling was surreal. Seeing the Wheel (and how small it seems vs. on TV,) the letter board, the lights, the cameras was all amazing. We took turns practicing spinning the Wheel, and playing mini mock rounds of the game. We went back to the contestant room, and waited again. We had a nice spread of snacks, sandwiches, waters, sodas etc. Then the makeup came. We were called in the rows we were sitting in. The first few people made their way through and we still had no idea of when we were filming. We knew the first show started filming at noon. Beyond that, time would tell. After hanging out for a little while, things went fast and furious. The contestant coordinators came in with papers stacked in threes, and told us they had the shows lined up. Myself, Rona, and Lizzie were the 5th group called. The contestant coordinators then called one name from each group (ours was Rona) to draw numbers as to the order of our filmings. Lizzie and I both told Rona to pick a 2 or 3, and we certainly didn't want to film first. Each of the contestants from the six shows to be filmed that day picked a golf ball with a number on it, tightly concealed within their hands. The contestant coordinators asked them to reveal the order of filming, and Rona held a 1. Here we were, an hour before showtime. And the suspense got worse! Each set of 3 contestants was called to come up and determine their positions (red, yellow, blue.) I opened my palm to discover a die with the number two, and knew I was yellow. All of the contestants went out for a rehearsal. We all had a chance to buzz in for toss ups, call letters, spin the wheel, wait out commercial breaks etc. The audience began piling in, and we were quickly taken backstage for touch ups. At noon, there we were on stage, with Pat and Vanna walking towards us. It was on. First toss up. 4 letter word, 5 letter word with an exclamation point. I guess Holy Moley! I was wrong. Rona went on to take Ahoy Matey! for the first toss up. Introductions went quick and we were on to the second toss up. First puzzle. Prize puzzle. Third Toss up. Final Puzzle. I found myself at the head of the leader board heading into the bonus round.