Doug B.

Stephen and I both found out we made WOF during our children's volleyball games. It was absolutely impossible to contain the excitement. We practiced almost everyday by watching the show, strategizing, crossword puzzles and talking about what we would say in our intro. We began talking about clothes we were going to wear and immediately put in orders for blazers, button ups, and sweaters.

Next, we had to decide who was going to join us in Culver City. We had to let all five children know that they would not be able to join and we received a collective sigh of disappointment. The kids are always the ones watching with us and telling us that we need to be on the show. Next, plane tickets and hotels were booked. We are from Texas so we thought it would be cool to tack on an extra day and spend some time in LA. Finally, we are two days out from when our plane leaves and we do a fashion show to make sure all our clothes match and look decent. After I walked out of my room and my youngest daughter tells me, "dad, you look funny", I knew I had chosen something wrong. I made it outside to show my wife and brother and they also gave me the, "is that what you are going to wear" look? At this point, I am super stressed and our game plan was to go shopping immediately upon landing in California.

We land in LA and go straight to Macy's to get shirts. Luckily, our wives were there to help us through! The night before, we asked the restaurant owner to put WOF on so we could watch while we ate. He happily obliged! Morning of comes and we were dropped across the street. Grabbed some photos and a video and headed in. We were greeted by almost all of the contestants that were taping that day. Everyone acted like they were old friends and knew each other for decades. It was truly an amazing experience. What we learned: that we stage for WOF in the Jeopardy! studio. This was mind blowing in its own right. I am extremely bald and also learned that the amount of anti-shine makeup needed to place on me was extreme! The wonderful lady that was doing my makeup, did Alex Trebek's makeup for 17 years. We had a wonderful conversation about him. The practice introductions were hilarious, numbing, stressful and fun. I messed up one time and thought for sure I had gotten us kicked out!

One of the most hilarious things that happened to us was that during our intro on tape with Pat, my brother was mouthing what I was saying. Jimmy, the stage manager, had to cut the tape and record my intro again so you could not see my brother mouthing what I was saying. It was quite hilarious and was a fun experience in its own way. What surprised us most was how fast it goes. I will never ever poke fun at anyone for choosing a wrong letter or making a mistake again. I even made the mistake of not choosing an N or G for the "what are you doing" puzzle.

We made great friends with the Dear (Jordan and Debbie) family who were to our right on our episode. They were amazing and we are still texting with them today. We are going to have a massive watch party at our place of business and cannot contain our excitement. Our children still do not know how we did! For me, Wheel withstood the test of time. It has been around my entire life and gives me a sense of calm and stability knowing that it is always on at 6:30. With how busy all of our lives are, it is nice to know you can forget about everything for those 30 minutes!