Women divulge ‘Wheel’ journeys Taped programs to air soon onVII

Her recent experiences on the game show “Wheel of Fortune” had Monica Raye’s head spinning for a time.

The Robbinston woman, who will appear on the show at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday on WVII Channel 7 found herself making a quick, unexpected trip to Hollywood in October.

Raye’s journey began Aug. 21-22, when the show’s “Wheelmobile” came to Bangor in search of contestants. She sat there for both days, but her name was never called.

Still, every potential contestant filled out an application, and all the names went with show officials back to California. About a month later, Raye, 23, received a call inviting her to be one of 100 candidates brought back for a second audition, this time Oct. 6 in Bar Harbor.

Raye, who went with her husband, Mike, and two young sons, Michael and Andrew, was in the first group of 50 applicants. They took a five-minute test and completed 16 “Wheel”-type puzzles. A total of 23 were selected from that group, with Raye’s name the 22nd one called.

In the second test and interview, contestants took turns spinning the wheel and talking about themselves.

“They told us it would be two weeks until we find out [if they were chosen], and up to two years until we would be on the show,” said Raye, a junior at the University of Maine majoring in elementary education.

That night at 10:30, the phone rang. Raye figured it was her mother from Texas, who often called at that hour. Instead, it was Gary O’Brien, a contestant coordinator for “Wheel.”

“He asked, ‘Can you come in two weeks?'” she recalled. “I couldn’t believe it. We booked a flight, then I called him the next morning and asked, “You did call me last night?'”

Two weeks later, the couple arrived at Sony Studios around 7:30 a.m. for a noon taping.

“I wasn’t nervous,” Raye recalled. “I was guarded because I didn’t know what to expect. My husband was the nervous one.”

Mike and the other friends and relatives had to leave while contestants got ready, practicing spinning the wheel and yelling out letters, recording a promo spot for their hometown stations, and getting into makeup. Letter-spinner Vanna White even popped her head in to say hi.

“My husband came in during bonus-round practice and thought he’d missed it all,” Raye said with a laugh.

Raye found out that playing every night at home wasn’t much like being on the show itself.

“It’s more intense and a little scary,” she said. “The letters wouldn’t come to me like they do at home. But I just went there to have fun, so there was no pressure on me.”

Raye signed a nondisclosure agreement that forbid her to reveal how she did on the show. But she could sum up her “Wheel of Fortune” experience.

“I went through a lot of emotions,” she said. “It was like I was on a roller-coaster ride.”

Also appearing on “Wheel” will be Heather Monroe of Bangor, who will be on the Dec. 13 episode.

Monroe, a teacher at Mattanawcook Academy in Lincoln, took a slightly different route to Hollywood than Raye.

She went to the Wheelmobile and was called up on stage to play on Sunday. About a month later, she received an e-mail notifying her that she had been selected for the second audition in Bar Harbor.

Like Raye, Monroe also was in the morning group at that Oct. 6 audition. After getting only three of the 16 puzzles correct, she said that she figured she was done, yet she was called back for the afternoon session.

Monroe, also a graduate student in secondary literacy education at the University of Maine, received a phone call from O’Brien two weeks later, and she found herself at the “Wheel” studio for a taping Nov. 5. She took part in that morning’s first taping.

“It’s really fast paced, so much faster than you think,” recalled Monroe, 23. “It was kind of surreal, all kind of a blur. You have to think so quickly, especially if it’s your turn.”

What Monroe remembers most about her experience is how pleasant it was.

“What stands out is how nice everyone was, how far they went for us,” she said. “They gave us a shuttle from the hotel, and fed us, and gave us all these tips throughout the process.”

Dale McGarrigle can be reached at 990-8028 and dmcgarrigle@bangordailynews.net.