Issue date: 10/1/08 Section: News

Media Credit: Photo courtesy of Peter DiMauron Peter DiMauron awaiting the taping of the show.

Make sure to tune in to CBS, on Oct. 7 at 7 p.m. to cheer on Suffolk junior, Peter DiMauro, as he is set to appear on the hit game show, Wheel of Fortune.
"I signed up two years ago and forgot about it," said DiMauro. It wasn't until June that he received an email saying he had been randomly chosen for an audition in New York City.
It was a three-hour process that included practice puzzles generated by projectors and a five-minute quiz, he said. After the group of fifty was cut down to twenty-five, Peter and the other contestants did more practice puzzles and got to talk a little about themselves.
Peter found out he was chosen two and a half weeks later when he got a letter saying he could be called to come on the show any time in the next eighteen months, but he didn't have to wait nearly that long. He was invited to fly out to Los Angeles for a taping in August.
"I was really excited. I had never been before and the weather was beautiful," he said. "We stayed four days. We figured while we were there we might as well stay a little longer than we needed to."
DiMauro traveled with his mother, brother, and two best friends.
He said that both Pat Sajak and Vanna White were "very nice," though he only met Sajak when they were actually filming the show.
"Vanna randomly walked up to us backstage and wished us luck, which was nice because you don't really get to talk to her while she's walking back and forth on the puzzle," he said.
While DiMauro was there, they taped six shows, and he got a chance to meet the seventeen other contestants, not knowing whom he was going to actually play against.
"I met my two opponents beforehand, and I was really friendly with one of them," he said. "We didn't know we'd be on the same show, but it was nice that we got to cheer each other on."
Peter says that being on the show is a lot different than just watching it from home. "There's a lot more to think about," he said.
"At home you just look at the puzzle and figure it out. I was afraid of messing up and I had to worry about spinning the wheel and whether or not to call a vowel."
Peter refused to reveal if he won, though he was not contractually obligated to keep it a secret. "I just want everyone to be surprised," he said, "but I will tell you that we all won something."
He did however, divulge on some of the prizes, including a Winnebago and various trips.
This is also the first season there is a million dollar space on the wheel in the bonus round.

Page 1 of 1

Article Tools