Jessica Derenbrecker, political science senior, said the big wheel on the game show Wheel of Fortune is heavy and awkward to spin. And she would know.
Derenbrecker won $121,000 on the Aug. 27 New Orleans taping of the long-running game show. The episode aired Monday night.
According to the Wheel of Fortune Web site, the wheel weighs 4,000 pounds.
“You can’t grab it too low because your hand might get caught,” Derenbrecker said. “When I first practiced, it kind of hurt.”
Derenbrecker won the largest bonus prize given on the show – $100,000 – in the bonus round.
Only the I, S and H were on the board before she tried to solve the $100,000 puzzle. The answer was “BIG BASH” and the category was event.
She guessed the correct answer within the second Wheel of Fortune host Pat Sajak said go.
“It just popped in my head,” she said. “I have no idea how I got it.”
After the third round, Sajak made the final spin of the wheel to $5,000 – the largest cash prize on the wheel. This allowed Derenbrecker to buzz in the correct answer and place her above the other two contestants for a chance at the bonus round.
“It’s much easier to sit at home and solve the puzzle because there’s no pressure,” she said. “But on TV you’re playing for real money.”
But even with the audience cheering at the end in the studio built to resemble the French Quarter, the celebration was short-lived.
Derenbrecker returned to her Kenner home after the taping to evacuate for Hurricane Katrina.
The coming hurricane almost prevented the Aug. 27 taping at the Ernest M. Morial Convention Center.
“The whole time that morning, [the producers] would not tell us anything,” she said. “But they were freaking out. A huge hurricane was coming right to where they were filming.”
She said the audience was one-third of what it normally is because of the panic in the city that day.
She said she will save most of the prize money to pay for law school but plans to use some for a post-graduation trip.
Nursing senior Michelle Reynolds, a friend of Derenbrecker who attended the taping, said it was unbelievable to see her friend winning on national television.
“It was definitely a once-in-a -lifetime experience for her,” Reynolds said. “And I was lucky to be there to share it with her.”