A Ball State student won cash and a vacation at an iconic game show.
When he isn’t taking classes or singing his heart out at karaoke, Ball State University journalism student Christian Dixie is most likely obsessing about the game show Wheel of Fortune. He recently appeared on the show back in March representing BSU during the show’s College Week: Spring Break edition. Following his big win on the show, the bubbly and outgoing sophomore tells his story about his love of Wheel of Fortune to Ball Bearings Magazine.
Tell us a little bit about your history with Wheel of Fortune and why you love the show so much.
My history of Wheel of Fortune started around when I was 9 months old and my grandma sat me in front of the TV and the channel happened to be on Wheel of Fortune. I was just so attracted to the wheel and everything related to the show and it was a thing ever since. My grandma and I, we watched it for 4 years up until her passing in 2005, but I continued to watch the show as a tradition in our household, and I would try not to miss an episode of Wheel. It was in 2017 that I did my very first audition video for the show. I was 16 years old and I was trying out for Team Best Friends Week, but I didn’t hear anything back from them, so I had to wait a couple of years to try again, and in May of last year, 2019, I reapplied again, and after ten days of when my application was submitted, I got an invite from Wheel of Fortune to audition. I did that in early June [2019], which was really fun. It took place in a hotel ballroom and we solved puzzles. It was really fun to be surrounded by people that loved the show as much as I did. And then in January of 2020, I got a call from Wheel of Fortune saying, “Hey, can you come out to L.A. in a couple of weeks and would you like to represent Ball State on Wheel of Fortune?,” and I was like, “Yeah!”
What made you decide to apply to be a contestant on Wheel of Fortune for College Week?
The thing that made me decide to go ahead and decide to try out and apply for College Week was that I was an avid Wheel of Fortune fan and I was going to be going to college at the time that coming Fall, so I was like, why not try out for College Week?
What was the audition process like for you?
The audition process took place in a hotel ballroom as I said earlier, and I was auditioning with around 60 other people of different demographics they were looking for on the show, like couples, veterans, and other college students as well, and basically what we did was we played several mock puzzles on a projector screen and we all got to take a turn calling letters. Basically it was like the actual show, like if it’s in the puzzle you get to keep going, and then they would have one of the contestant producers spinning the wheel. We practiced our letter calling, and then after we played several mock puzzles, then we did a contestant exam, which consists of 16 puzzles, and you have four categories with four puzzles in each of them, and you had five minutes to solve as many puzzles as you can. They had some letters filled in to help you out. Once time was up, they went away to grade our tests, and we got to actually watch an episode of Wheel of Fortune while we were there, so that was really cool. They came back and said, “Okay, if you hear your name, we’d like you to stick around. If not, then it means your audition is over and we thank you for your time.” I heard my name, I made it through the cut, so I got to stick around with the contestant producers. Basically, it was me and twenty-some other people that got to stay after and we got to play against each other. They put us in groups of five and we were spread out around the projector and we got to play three mock puzzles and I got to solve one of them in my group, so that was really nice. And then after those three rounds, we would practice our contestant introduction as if we were talking to Pat in front of the contestant producers, and then the audition was over. Then they were like, “Okay, if you get a letter from us within two weeks after your audition, you made it into the contestant pool, and if not, then you’ll have to try again next year.” I didn’t get a letter, but it wasn’t until seven months later after my audition in June, it would’ve been in January, that I got the call a couple weeks before taping that I found out that I was selected for the show.
Once you found out that you were going to be on the show, once you got that call, what was your initial reaction?
I was extremely excited. I literally said yes over the phone and I hadn’t even told my parents yet. That’s how excited I was! But thankfully we were able to go, thank God.
How long did it take from your initial application to the show date’s filming?
It was in May 2019 when I applied and then February was for the taping. It was roughly almost a year just about, 10 or 11 months.
Where was your episode filmed?
My episode was filmed in Culver City, California at Sony Pictures Studios.
What was it like visiting the area?
Visiting the area was just so cool. To be that close to the studio and just being able to explore a bit of California for the first time, it was just beautiful.
How long did it take to film your episode?
It took roughly 30 minutes to tape my episode. I was the second episode taped that day, since they tape six shows in one day. I was at the studio from roughly 7 a.m. up until around 6 p.m. It’s a long taping day. Usually they do three tapings and then they take a break, and then they come back and do the other three shows, and then taping is done for the day. I didn’t stick around for the last three tapings since we were able to leave the studio and do a little bit of an outing and exploring.
When did your episode film and when did it air?
My episode was filmed on February 6 and then my episode aired on March 17— St. Patrick’s Day.
What was filming like?
Honestly, it was a blur kind of, but from what I can remember, taping day was just amazing and just being in the live studio audience, since I was the second episode to be taped, so I got to watch the first episode be taped and get a feeling for what that would be like. Then we got to basically rehearse when we were there in the morning. We basically did a run down and we also got a tour of the studio and we got to do a couple of rehearsal games to get us warmed up. We also did our little promos where they’re like, “Hey, I’m Christian and watch me play Wheel and insert local affiliate here.” When we were in the green room, Vanna surprised us. She came in without any makeup and she had just arrived to the studio. It was a really nice surprise to see Vanna. She’s just so heartwarming. That was the most memorable part of the day.
What was it like seeing the famous wheel, Pat Sajak, and Vanna White?
Oh my gosh, seeing the wheel, Pat, and Vanna, I felt like I was a kid in heaven. I felt like a child. To be able to fulfill my childhood dream of being on the show this young, it was just so surreal. I was so blessed and humbled to have had this experience. I was able to interact with Pat and Vanna in between rounds of solving puzzles. He was really impressed with me and so was Vanna. I got to talk to them during the closing credits and Vanna told me that I made it look so easy and to hear that from her…I’ve had a childhood crush on Vanna since I was young. She was my first childhood crush ever and to hear that from her was just so heartwarming and just so amazing.
What’s it like spinning the wheel? Is it harder than it looks?
I actually had an easier time, I thought it would be much harder; almost impossible to spin it. The wheel weighs 2,400 pounds! It was actually really fun spinning the wheel. I enjoyed every second of it.
You mentioned on the show that you work for Byte at Ball State. What is that like and what have you done for them?
Working for Byte is a lot of fun. I am a features writer for Byte, and basically what I do is I write articles for the features section. I’ve written a couple of articles for them including the history of Wheel of Fortune!
You won a trip to Barbados during the Prize Puzzle round! Tell us about that and your trip plans!
The trip to Barbados that I won, my initial reaction when I won when Pat told me was that I was very excited! I was like, “Wow, Barbados, it’s amazing.” I will be taking the trip sometime next year with my mom since I’m able to take one other person with me. I’m looking forward to taking that trip next year.
Before you went to the bonus round, Pat gave you the choice of Place, Things, or Phrase. You chose Place. What made you pick that?
That’s a good question! What made me pick Place for the bonus round was my gut feeling and I’m really good with places for the most part, and the other two categories, I was just like, “nah.”
Did you know those categories ahead of time?
No I did not. They had revealed the categories on the puzzle board and I chose Place. It was my gut feeling and thankfully it paid off.
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gsiLQSSTb7g[/embedyt]
When you were naming the consonants and vowel you wanted for your final puzzle, Pat seemed to notice that you were picking the right letters to solve it. During the credits of the show, you explained to Pat how you knew what letters to call to solve the puzzle of “Wavy Ocean.” Can you explain that thought process you had to our audience?
My bonus round strategy as I was picking C, W, V, A, I knew from the E and the N that the second word was ocean and I knew that that was the place that they were looking for, but I couldn’t figure out the top word. So, for the top word, I was thinking of words that were associated with the ocean, and I thought of wave, but there’s no E; the E was already used. So I was like, “wavy!” I was also thinking about the theme week, College Week: Spring Break, so most of the puzzles for a given week are based upon the theme. I was thinking about the ocean which is a popular spring break destination, and then I topped it off with figuring out the adjective wavy since I was able to figure out that waves are associated with the ocean.
You won $65,930 after winning $37,000 in the bonus round! How did it feel to win that?
I was hoping for the grand prize of $100,000, but I’m very happy to have won $37,000. It’s such a blessing to have won that, really just the bonus round in general, because of how difficult the bonus round can be. I’m planning on spending most of my winnings on college and paying for that and a shopping spree. I got me a new laptop for school to keep up with things since my other computer was slow and I couldn’t quite keep up. I had to use the school computers and I was tired of using them. I went out to eat a lot which was really nice, and I got to treat my family and that really meant a lot to me. Being able to do things for my family and be able to provide for them as much as they did for me.
You brought your parents with you as your guests in the Wheel of Fortune audience. How did they enjoy the experience?
My parents really enjoyed it. They really enjoyed the trip in general, but especially Wheel of Fortune. My parents wished they were in California for longer as much as I did. They were just in awe as they watched me play. They really were. They knew that I was good, but they didn’t know that I was that good.
During and after the episode you were on, social media was flooded with comments about your positivity and bubbly personality on the show. Your show aired towards the beginning of the lockdowns in March, and many viewers thanked you for being so happy during a dark time. How did it feel to go viral and see those kinds of comments online?
It felt really good to go viral. I wasn’t really expecting to go viral. I thought my episode was going to be ignored but thankfully it wasn’t. A lot of people took notice. A couple of outlets like Yahoo, Decider, and also across the Twitter audience, they were just flooded with positive comments. I was just so heartwarmed by that and I was able to uplift a lot of people, especially during the early parts of lockdown.
What would you suggest to anyone who would want to try to end up on Wheel of Fortune?
I would definitely say to anyone wanting to try out for the show is to never give up. Even though I was able to get on on my first try, which is very rare, if you’re somebody that has tried before, never give up because you might be one step closer to being on the show. I would also say practice for the show and study up on the show. Most of the puzzles are based upon the theme week for the show, and take advantage of that, and you’ll definitely be on your way to big money!
Do you have any other comments about the show or your experience in general?
I just want to say that I’m grateful to God for this experience and the opportunities that came out of that including this very interview. I’m so grateful to have an amazing love for this show. I just want to thank everyone for all of the continued support before, during, and after my airing. I’m just very grateful. Very, very grateful.
