Being on "Wheel of Fortune" isn't simply a matter of showing up and solving some puzzles. Just ask Debi (McMullen) Oliva, an Anderson native now living in Jupiter, Fla. Oliva was chosen from a pool of hundreds to compete on "America's Game" and on the May 3 episode, she came out a big winner.
Oliva, who grew up in Anderson and went to T.L. Hanna High School until 1982, came away from "Wheel of Fortune" with more than $50,000 in cash and prizes. That included winning the "Bonus Round" where the solution was "Pageant Competitor" and the prize was $35,000.
But that wasn't what made Oliva the most nervous, she said. That feeling was reserved for the audition process.
"I have social anxiety disorder, for real," Oliva said in a phone interview from her home in Florida. "But my mother wanted me to go to the Wheelmobile with her and I couldn't let my mother down."
Her mother, Billie McCullen Hill, was the one who got Oliva into "Wheel of Fortune" in the first place. They had been fans for the show's entire 35-year run and wanted to meet Pat Sajak and Vanna White. So they went to the audition more than 18 months ago and started the long road to game show stardom.
Oliva said she had no desire to actually make the show in the beginning. She didn't want to be the one who faints when the cameras start rolling. But as the process went along, her excitement grew with it. And when her name was called to be eligible for a second audition, excitement got the better of her. That, she said, is why she was picked.
"If I had been the first or second person called (for a second audition), I never would have been picked," she explained. "But when my name was finally called, I wanted to be a part of it."
Of course, that didn't come for several more months. And even when the notice came that she had been chosen, it was going to require her flying to California to film. On her own dime. And at the time, that wasn't exactly in the budget.
"I was going to tell them 'no,' " Oliva admitted. "We didn't have $5,000 of unbudgeted money to get to California. And then what happened next shows that God had other plans."
Oliva got a call from the producers of "Wheel of Fortune" who told her that not only was she chosen, but she had been selected to be on the special Walt Disney World episodes of the show. That meant filming was going to be right near home.
Not only that, but Disney was sponsoring those contestants chosen and she and four friends would be given an all-inclusive stay at the resort during filming.
Oliva took her husband, son, daughter-in-law and her best friend along. She wanted to take her mother, also, but she was too ill to attend. That, she said, was bittersweet because none of it would have been possible without her mother.
"My mom is the only reason I was on and the only reason I won," she said. "Mom passed away this past January, but I was able to tell her that I won just before she died."
Oliva will continue watching "Wheel" and has a different perspective on it. She will also be a featured contestant on the "Wheel of Fortune" website starting Monday, May 7. As for what she will do with the money? She plans to put it in a CD and use some of it to buy a condo on the beach.
"But I always come back to Anderson," she said. "I know I will see a lot of friends and family next time and I can finally talk about being on the show."
