Glynis Tatum is a licensed real estate broker and general manager for Sunrise Management. The company manages approximately 600 properties, ranging from studio apartments to executive homes. For one day, she held another title: game show contestant. In May 2009, Tatum auditioned at the Welk Resort Theatre in Branson to become a contestant on Wheel of Fortune. She got the job, and on Feb. 18, she was in Los Angeles, taping a show that aired May 31. Q: What made you decide to audition for Wheel of Fortune? A: I just heard about it and didn’t have plans for that particular day, so I said, “Hey, let’s all go and audition for Wheel of Fortune.” Everyone was like, ha ha ha. Anyway, I’m adventurous. I’m up for it. It just sounded like fun, and it worked out well for me.
Q: Did you know you were going to be a contestant by the end of the audition? A: They kept narrowing it down, narrowing it down, but they don’t tell you at the audition. They just call you later. I don’t know how they told everyone else, but I had a voice mail. And I almost deleted it. I didn’t know the number and I was ready to delete it, and then I hear, “Hey, this is ‘so-and-so’ from Wheel of Fortune.” I moved my thumb real fast. Q: What’s something most people probably don’t realize about the set? A: It doesn’t look like anything you see on TV. There are lots of lights, lots of cameras, the wheel is very heavy. Vanna is super sweet – I was there on her birthday, which was kind of cool. At the end, when we’re visiting, I said, “Happy Birthday.” When she asked how I knew, I said it was in the news. She said, “Did they say how old I am?”
Q: You went bankrupt a few times during the show. Were you ready to throw in the towel? A: I went bankrupt at least three times. One of my maintenance guys … he’s former military, he told me, had he known I was going to have that much trouble spinning the wheel, he would have had me in the parking lot doing push-ups until he was tired. I hit bankrupt a bunch, … but I got lucky in the end. There’s luck involved and some skill, but it goes really fast. They tape six shows in one day. I think I was up there maybe 10 or 15 minutes.
Q: You ended up advancing to the bonus round. How much did you win, and what do you plan to do with that money? A: I won $13,450, which really isn’t a lot in Wheel of Fortune money. I’m really undecided on (what to do with it). Everyone keeps asking, and of course there are plenty of people willing to spend it for me. It will probably sit in the bank for a while. I will tithe my 10 percent of it for sure. My church will be happy about that. And I’ll have to save enough to pay those taxes. … I’m certainly not retiring.[[In-content Ad]]
