Kerri McDonagh, a third-grade teacher at Glenwood Landing School in Glen Head, was on “Wheel of Fortune” on Nov. 27.
McDonagh has lived on Long Island her entire life. A Huntington resident, McDonagh has been teaching for the past few years and she also loves to travel.
“I went to Greece on a solo trip two years ago, I went to Croatia three to four years ago,” McDonagh said, explaining that due to being a teacher and having the summers off she was able to travel through a travel company.
“Wheel of Fortune” is a game show where contestants spin a large wheel to determine the cash value of letters they pick to solve word puzzles, with the goal of accumulating the most money and advancing to a bonus round for potentially bigger prizes. The contestant with the most winnings at the end of the round wins the game.
McDonagh applied to be on the show in April during her spring break. The online application had personal questions that McDonagh had to answer and in addition, they requested a video.
“I found a video of me in Greece smashing plates, and I thought that’s fun,” McDonagh said. Two days after applying, McDonagh said she was invited to a Zoom interview with producers from the show.
A couple of weeks later McDonagh did another interview focusing on solving puzzles, playing the various games on “Wheel of Fortune” and how she would interact with other participants on the show.
A few weeks later, McDonagh said she had an informational session and then flew out to film in California in June. McDonagh said that she had to keep her involvement in the show a secret for months.
The trip was entirely self-financed, but the show was very upfront about the fact that participants had to be able to support themselves financially to be filmed according to McDonagh.
McDonagh came in second place, winning $9,500. She was able to do so by spinning the Wheel and successfully solving difficult puzzles, including “Texas Hold Em” for song title and “Window Shopper” for person category.
While she was initially nervous at the beginning of filming the show, McDonagh said that as it went on, she felt more comfortable.
She said the skills she has learned in her career as a teacher helped her navigate the puzzles as well as some of the performance anxiety that comes with filming in front of a live audience.
“It wasn’t anything different from teaching a lesson and having people observing in the background. I used what I know to push me through” she said.
After she shared with friends, family, and co-workers her involvement in “Wheel of Fortune,” McDonagh said she was surprised how many people in her generation were generally unaware of what the show was. She said she encouraged her third-grade students to watch some episodes.
McDonagh said she is interested in seeing what other opportunities could await her in front of another live audience but is not committing to anything at the moment.
“I am interested now to see what else I could apply for and try it out,” McDonagh said. “I didn’t know what it would be like in front of the cameras until I actually filmed it”
