Pat Sajak, Vanna White … and April Christie.
That’s the way it was down Hollywood way Oct. 17 when Christie, a 21-year-old Bothell resident, filmed an episode of the popular game show Wheel of Fortune.
The taping — which aired Dec. 1 — flew by in about 20 minutes, according to Christie, who won three toss-up puzzles and earned a cool $6,000. Her winning answers: some assembly required, peppermint tea and head coach.
“Peppermint tea had only four letters showing, so I’m pretty proud of that one,” Christie said. “It just kind of popped into my head — ‘I know what it is.’
“I was pretty nervous (at first),” she continued. “I felt like my knees could have buckled, but then I just decided to get on with it and have fun with it.”
April, her husband, Daniel, and about 25 friends watched the episode in their Bothell Canyon Creek Apartments theater room.
“Pat and Vanna seemed really personable. It was pretty fun,” said Daniel, who accompanied April on the trip.
Daniel noted that contestants were told not to make eye contact with their family members during taping. Afterward, they couldn’t visit with each other until the contestant exited the stage.
Daniel found out about the latter rule the hard way: “After the show, I went up to talk to her (on stage), and some men came up to me and said, ‘No, no, no’ … they were like the KGB. They said she could lose her earnings.”
April’s road to Hollywood began in July, when she, Daniel and his grandmother and Wheel fan, Phyllis Wells, attended Wheel-mobile tryouts in Sequim. April took the stage with four other TV hopefuls and caught the attention of the Wheel officials.
“They want you to jump up and be all excited and see that you’re enthusiastic about the game,” April said. “They saw something in me — or just luck of the draw.”
About a month later, she went to downtown Seattle for a second tryout, which included a puzzle test and more on-stage auditions.
“It was three hours total of drilling. It was pretty intense, very stressful,” said April, who was notified by mail in early September that she had been selected to appear on TV.
Her Oct. 17 day began with a 7:45 a.m. meeting at the studio, where contestants filled out paperwork, practiced spinning the wheel and prepared for the first taping at noon.
“The wheel is very heavy, it can be deceiving to some people,” said April, who began playing a handheld version of Wheel at the age of 7.
So now that she’s away from the bright lights, Sajak, White and the wardrobe and makeup folks at Wheel of Fortune, what’s April’s take on the whole deal?
“Oh, I don’t think there’s much to compare to an experience like that,” she said.
