Victor alumna and former "Millionaire" and “Jeopardy!” winner Megan Rafferty Barnes to appear on “Wheel of Fortune”
FARMINGTON — A former Farmington resident and Victor School alumna will share a stage with Vanna White and Pat Sajak this Friday. Megan Rafferty Barnes, who won $16,000 on "Who Wants to be a Millionaire" in June 2009, and $105,203 on “Jeopardy!” in March 2011, will appear on “Wheel of Fortune” this Friday, Oct. 24, at 7 p.m. on WROC.
Now a Columbia, Md., resident, Barnes said she's always enjoyed the Wheel/Jeopardy game show hour, so after appearing on “Jeopardy!” she kept her eye out for “Wheel of Fortune” auditions.
“I thought my chances of getting on the show were pretty low,” she said. “But I figured if you don't try out, the chance is zero. So I gave it a shot.”
Barnes sent in a one-minute audition video on the wheeloffortune.com website and was eventually selected to be a contestant on the July 24 show. Since six shows are taped each day, Barnes was able to watch five of them from the audience — and again on her own TV this week.
Surprisingly, Barnes said she was much more nervous about playing “Wheel of Fortune” than “Jeopardy!”
“On ‘Jeopardy!' I got to play four games over two taping days, so it was a lot more playing,” said Barnes. “On ‘Wheel of Fortune,' I knew going in that it was just going to be one show. Both times I just tried to have fun and really enjoy the experience.”
The most surprising thing to Barnes was how heavy the wheel is — some 2,400 pounds. Barnes said she “had to put all her oomph into it to spin it.”
“The most memorable part of the experience came in the morning when Vanna White came to say hi,” Barnes recalled. “She was in a ponytail and sweatshirt. I don't think anyone would have recognized her on the street — until she flashed her beautiful smile. She told us all, ‘buy vowels!'”
Then came the impossible task of keeping the outcome a secret from July through Friday. Although friends and family begged, Barnes kept her silence, in part because of a contractual agreement and also so everyone could be genuinely surprised.
Another hard part was “being happy and clapping when a lot of money was on the line,” she said.
“Vanna was the sweetest, and Pat Sajak has such a soothing voice for all the nervous contestants,” Barnes said. “Pat and Vanna really looked like they were having fun together and still enjoy each other's company.”
Contestants all hung out together in the show's green room, Barnes said. They really are all “just normal people, maybe just a little peppier than the average person,” she said.
Barnes said she has to wait six months after “Wheel of Fortune” airs before she can be on another show, but hopes to go against The Beast on “The Chase.”
“I pretty much try out for any game show that has auditions in D.C. or Baltimore,” she said. “I also want to encourage anybody who is shouting out the answers at home to give it a try. ‘Jeopardy!' and ‘Wheel of Fortune' both have online applications, so give it a go!”
TUNE IN
When Friday, Oct. 24, at 7 p.m
Where “Wheel of Fortune,” WROC, Channel 8
