Hillary Light has had her 15 minutes of fame (technically, 20). The Saratoga Springs native won $100,000 in Wheel of Fortune’s bonus round on the Dec. 16 show, the biggest bonus round prize ever.
But even though she knew she was good at solving the word puzzles from her boyfriend’s living room, she wasn’t sure things would pan out so well on the show.
I watched so many people and nobody was getting the bonus round answers. I always expect the worst and I was ready for it, said Light.
But Light found herself standing beside host Pat Sajak correctly guessing the bonus round phrase and opening up an envelope that held the $100,000 prize.
`I was really excited because that’s what I wanted was to get a shot at solving the puzzle. I didn’t know what to do because I was so surprised; I was in shock when he opened the envelope,` said Light. `It was so weird, and after I noticed they were surprised that I wasn’t screaming and stuff when the confetti fell, I felt like I was in a dream. It was weird.`
Light had to keep her winnings ` a total of $115,570 and a trip to Hawaii ` to herself from the Oct. 22 taping until the Dec. 16 airing. She couldn’t even tell her own family. The only person who knew was her boyfriend, who accompanied her to the show.
`I had to keep it quiet for two months; that was really difficult. I was telling my parents that I did OK, but I had fun,` said Light. `When they saw it ,they were flipping out. They couldn’t believe it. They didn’t expect that at all.`
Light said she has her boyfriend to thank for both getting her hooked on the show and actually appearing on the show.
`Five or six years I’ve been a fan of ‘[Wheel of Fortune].’ I was introduced to it by my boyfriend. He used to watch it since he was really little with his grandparents and when I started going over there to have dinner, I’d sit with them watching it,` said Light. `At first, I wasn’t very interested, but after a while I ended up liking the show a lot.`
When she started thinking about auditioning for the show, she was in luck, because a `Wheelmobile` from the show was in Las Vegas, where she was going to school. Both she and her boyfriend auditioned, but only she got called back for a second audition after a random drawing.
Taping at Sony Studios in Culver City, Calif. was `the best experience` of her life, if an extremely long and nerve-wracking one.
`I had to get there really early in the morning, then they run you through all the rules of the game and you have to tape a promo for the TV station. I was really nervous and I was picked for show five out of six on my day, so I had to wait almost all day,` said Light, who said contestants sit in the audience until it’s their turn on stage. `Pat and Vanna come walking out and it’s so weird because I couldn’t believe it was actually real. It was really difficult for me to solve them because I was so nervous having the cameras on me and it was kind of like you freeze up a little bit. I was just having to concentrate as much as I could on the puzzles so I wasn’t distracted.`
Light said she was given food in the morning, lunch and coffee, water, nuts and chips all day.
`I think they want to make sure everyone eats because they don’t want people fainting,` she said.
The night before her taping, Light didn’t know if she could go through with it. Now, she’s glad she did.
`I was upset the night before because I was overwhelmed with nerves, I just didn’t want to go there and not win anything and make a fool out of myself on TV,` Light said.
She has big plans for her winnings.
`I want to go to law school and also want to start some kind of business line inspired by my Chihuahuas, whether it’s dog clothes or selling healthy dog food because I’m a big animal lover,` said Light. `Maybe donate some to dog rescue shelters or organizations.`
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