Local Wheel of Fortune viewers may have seen a familiar face on their television screens Tuesday night after a former Londoner managed to snag a once-in-a-lifetime spot on the long-running game show.
Colleen Kuehl flew out to Los Angeles early last month to tape her appearance on the show after applying in October. The episode aired Tuesday, showing her take second place with winnings of around $17,000 USD.
Kuehl, a long-time fan of the show, is a dual citizen who currently calls Michigan home. The experience was surreal, she said.
“We had 18 contestants there, and it was busy, from 7 a.m. until… I finished taping my show about around noon,” Kuehl told 980 CFPL’s London Live with Mike Stubbs on Wednesday.
“The wheel was so heavy! It took forever to get that grip, because it’s 2,400 pounds,” she said. “It’s heavy!”
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Though she moved to Michigan two years ago, Kuehl took the chance to give a shout out to her former long-time home during the taping.
“I just threw it in,” she said. “Pat gets those little cards… we list about five, six, seven things on there. He chooses what he wants to ask you, so you just have to follow his lead, and I had an opportunity when he said ‘whereabouts in Canada are you from?’ So I pulled out the London card.”
Kuehl’s winnings, however, didn’t come without some struggle. During the taping, she landed on two bankrupts as well as a miss a turn, leading host Pat Sajak to dub the wheel, “Wheel of Torture.”
“I had pulled up the $10,000 wedge, I hit a $3,500… and then I got a bankrupt!” Kuehl said with a laugh.
Her plans now?
“I’m a bit of a vacation girl, so I think one of the islands is calling me down south.”