Carol Kaelson | Wheel of Fortune® | © 2024 Califon Productions, Inc. ARR.
From Southlake to Hollywood, Dustin Downing spun the Wheel of Fortune!
Fifteen years ago, Dustin filled out his first application to be a contestant on “Wheel of Fortune.” After submitting countless applications and waiting in endless lines for live auditions in Chicago and Fort Worth, Dustin figured it was time to throw the towel in. It wasn’t until last summer that his hope to compete on the show would be rekindled when he discovered they started accepting video auditions.
“It started out by just submitting a one-minute brief audition. It’s a quick introduction of myself and why they should pick me,” Dustin explains. “Then, about a month later, I got an email notification saying, ‘Hey, you’ve made it through to the next round.’”
After two more rounds of group calls and grueling puzzle competitions, Dustin was notified in early November that his tape date would be Dec. 1.
“The next morning, everybody’s getting ready for school, and I call a ‘real serious’ family meeting. They have all forgotten about it at that point, basically,” Dustin says. “I broke the news, and everybody was screaming and jumping around, and the dogs were going crazy. It was so fun.”
Things really set in motion when Dustin and his family were on a plane to Los Angeles later that month. Upon arrival, he had an 11-hour day ahead of him that entailed greeting fellow contestants, filming practice, hair and makeup sessions and several hours of rule guidance and training.
“I was not nervous one bit for the entire day. I can tell most people were nervous, and I wasn’t nervous at all,” Dustin recalls. “Then the stage director says, ‘We’re on in 10,’ and the lights go down, and I was like, ‘Oh, this just got real.’”
Despite his sudden uneasiness, Dustin managed to get the first puzzle. Later in the show, he also won the prize puzzle, securing a trip to the Bahamas. Dustin was on a roll, measuring up nicely against his fellow contestants, until he got stumped on a phrase during the last puzzle that kept him from moving onto the bonus round.
Regardless of how the game ended, Dustin had an incredible experience traveling to Hollywood, filming his family’s favorite television show, meeting some really amazing people and winning a few prizes along the way. He even had the opportunity to shout out to his grandmother, who was hosting a watch party from Stillwater, Oklahoma, as well as his very own Southlake community.
“For everybody that watches ‘Wheel of Fortune,’ I would say, ‘Give it a shot.’ There are so many people who think it's a waste of time because they'll never get picked. All you have to do is the video audition and be positive, engaging and try to connect with whoever it is that you're talking to,” Dustin says. “It's worth it. You have nothing to lose. And it's an experience that I'll never forget.”
You can watch Dustin on season 41, episode 98 of “Wheel of Fortune” via Hulu or Youtube TV.