Today at ISU
Cyclone News
Admissions

CIVIL ENGINEERING STUDENT TO APPEAR ON  "WHEEL OF FORTUNE"
 

Though she’d made it to the second round, Jill Lansing didn’t give it a second thought when she wasn’t chosen to tape a show after “Wheel of Fortune” auditioned about 80 Iowa State students for its “Big 12 Week” series last year.

Now the junior civil engineering major is about to get a second chance: last week the show’s producers asked her if she was still interested in appearing on the regular program.

“I thought I’d never hear back from them,” Lansing says. “Then I got a call out of nowhere. They asked me if I’d be able to fly down and tape on the 17th.”

So while the rest of us are putting the finishing touches on Thanksgiving plans, Lansing, accompanied by her mother, uncle, and younger sister, will be jetting to L.A. to share a laugh with Pat Sajack and buy a vowel or two from Vanna White. She’ll appear on one program only—winners don’t get to defend their crowns—and, should she go all the way, her family will join her on stage to celebrate as the credits roll. The episode will air several months after taping.

Asked why she was chosen, Lansing laughs. “I don’t know,” she says. “Maybe it’s because I was the only one who would shout ‘Big Money!’ when I was doing the mock version at the audition!”

Winning “Big Money” would be a big thrill, the Cresco, Iowa, native concedes. But Lansing is just as thrilled to have the opportunity to travel to sunny California—one of her favorite spots, she says—while her classmates and fellow Iowans ward off the late autumn chill. And if her dedication to the crossword in the Iowa State Daily pays off in the end, that’s just gravy.

According to the show’s Web site, “Wheel” is broadcast in three dozen nations besides the U.S., including India, Brazil, and Vietnam. The venerable game show has been a TV staple longer than Lansing’s been alive, airing its first episodes in 1983. Since then, Pat and Vanna have showered more than $150 million in cash and prizes on countless contestants, awarding over $9 million last season alone.

As for Lansing, she isn’t making any early retirement plans, even should she win the game. In any event, however, she considers the trip a preview of sorts for life after college, as she plans to seek employment as a structural engineer in a warmer urban setting.