OLMSTED TOWNSHIP, Ohio — For decades, Olmsted Township resident Danny Roman has been watching “Wheel of Fortune” with his parents.
This fall, the tech company customer success manager experienced a dream come true by appearing on the iconic television game show.
Roman’s episode airs at 7 p.m. Friday (Jan. 9) on WOIO-TV.
“It’s one of my favorite shows. I feel like I’ve been watching it for as long as I can remember,” said Roman, a 2012 Fairview High School graduate.
“I always felt like I was good playing it from home. We kind of joked that it should be me up there. That’s why I initially decided to audition.”
Roman didn’t hear back for months after auditioning online last spring, which included submitting a video, a couple of Zoom calls solving a puzzle and a mock interview.
Then, last August, while he was traveling through Asia — specifically, in Taiwan waiting to board a plane to Japan — he received an email asking if he could be in Los Angeles in three weeks to film an episode at Sony Studios.
Prior to the late-September taping, during which he said game show host Ryan Seacrest was “very cool,” Roman spent time preparing with various “Wheel of Fortune” strategies, including incessantly playing Wordle.
He admitted feeling the pressure to not only try to win, but to also not have a wrong guess seemingly live forever on social media.
“I honestly had that worry — I didn’t want to be like a viral moment,” he said.
“I kind of wanted to stay under the radar and do my whole thing.”
Naturally, Roman has remained tight-lipped about the outcome of his upcoming appearance.
“It’s been the most difficult secret I’ve ever had to keep,” he said.
“My parents and my brother came with me, so they know, but the show NDA-ed me (required a non-disclosure agreement) quite a bit, so I can’t really say anything.
“I’m having a watch party with all my family and friends on Friday.”
What Roman can say is that the whirlwind fall trip to the West Coast lived up to the expectation.
“Oh, yeah, it was awesome to see behind the scenes,” he said.
“And considering my parents have watched it forever, it was cool being able to bring them into that experience to see how the show is produced.
“Now watching it — having been there — it’s a different experience.”
The real question is whether Roman’s “Wheel of Fortune” experience included getting to buy a vowel?
“Of course I did, yeah,” he laughed. “I mean, you got to, right?”
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