After realizing a long-held dream, Tia Randolph was inspired to take another big step in her life.
Stephen Finn
The Sun
Burlington Township resident Tia Randolph has been a fan of game shows since she was young. She counts “Jeopardy!” and “Family Feud” among her favorites, but “Wheel of Fortune” has always been her №1.
She remembers watching with her mom growing up, and now her husband Mike is a fan by association.
“I put my husband up on watching ‘Wheel of Fortune’ with me because it’s always been my dream to go on the show,” said Tia.
She had applied for the show a number of times in the past to no avail, but wasn’t ready to give up just yet. One day, her mother-in-law suggested she try again after witnessing Tia guess all the puzzles as they watched the show together.
Last year, Tia’s dream was realized when she took her in-law’s advise and submitted a video talking about what she loves about the show. Shortly after, she received an invitation to come to New York to audition to be a contestant.
“I was so excited. I called people and if they didn’t answer I told them it was an emergency,” said Tia. “It probably wasn’t the best idea, but I was so excited I had to tell somebody,” she added.
Mike was excited for his wife and simply planned to play chauffeur, getting her to the audition, but little did he know, he was about to play a much bigger role in their adventure.
According to Mike, as he was riding the elevator looking for Tia, he happened across one of the producers of “Wheel of Fortune.” After finding out who he was there with, the producer told him they were looking for couples to play on the show together.
Given this unexpected twist, Mike was a little hesitant at first and replied, “My wife is more of the ‘Wheel of Fortune’ gamer, I’m going to stay out of it. I don’t want to ruin her opportunity.”
In spite of his reservations, the producer managed to convince him to at least try out.
After completing a series of crossword puzzles, the couple made it through multiple rounds of eliminations before being told the producers would be in touch.
After a few months of waiting, they finally received a call that they had been selected to fly out to Los Angeles and appear on the show in December.
“It was a once in a lifetime type of opportunity,” said Mike.
For Tia, the experience of filming the episode seemed to fly by.
“Taping the show was hard for me, only because I was so focused on the puzzles. I wanted to leave with something, so my nerves were shot,” said Tia. “It was actually one of the fastest 30 minutes of my life.”
Before filming, Tia said they were given plenty of time to practice and had everything explained to them in detail. The couple came up with a simple strategy together.
“We came to an agreement, I said ‘you can spin the wheel, I’ll solve the puzzles,’” said Tia.
In the end, the strategy paid off and the couple walked away from the show having won an all-inclusive trip to Ireland.
The Randolphs had to wait until their episode aired on Feb. 6 before they could talk about it with anyone. When the day came, they hosted a watch party with family and friends from their local church and had to resist the urge to give away the ending.
“We just kept everyone in suspense,” said Tia.
The whole experience ended up representing more to Tia than just an item checked off her bucket list. According to her, it was the inspiration she needed to go back to school.
“It was something that I always wanted. I dreamed of being on this show since I was a little girl, and I worked towards it and ended up on the show and going all the way,” said Tia.
