Earn On The SideCash In Your Spare Time

Millions of dollars are given away every year on the almighty GAME SHOW. They are certainly not for everyone…maybe you’re not interested or you live too far away from the locations where they are filmed. I am also not talking, in this case, about the reality adventure or competition show. Those I don’t have experience with but check the end of this article for links to the casting pages of some of the larger networks.

Side note…if you have auditioned for or made it onto a reality adventure or competition show (i.e. Survivor, Amazing Race, Top Chef, etc…) I would love to hear about it…

Now back to the game shows. I have personally appeared on three different game shows; Wheel of Fortune (www.wheeloffortune.com), Family Feud (www.familytfeud.tv), and Who Wants to be a Millionaire (www.millionairetv.com). How to succeed once you actually land on the show is a whole different story. What I can tell you about is my experience in getting on the show, and some tips that might help getting chosen to be a contestant. However, I’m not in casting and different shows and producers look for different things, so I can’t promise anything.

The first show I appeared on was Wheel of Fortune.

There are several ways to apply for Wheel.

First, you can attend a Wheel Mobile event; This is where casting people travel all over the country looking for contestants. These events are usually a mob scene, but if you aren’t close to Los Angeles, and you don’t mind the crowds, it may be your best shot.

When you show up at these casting calls; usually at a hotel, convention center or plaza, realize that the hard core fans have probably been lined up since the night before. There is logic to their madness, in my opinion. You want to be one of the first people that they see. Imagine you’re a producer casting for one of these shows; by the end of the day, you’ve seen hundreds of people and the chances of running into a tired staff member and not being remembered get a little higher.

You MUST be memorable for some reason. Wear a memorable shirt, do something memorable with your hair…don’t look stupid but give the casting team some way to pull your face out of the crowd.

The way I applied a few years back involved sending a postcard requesting an audition. Today, it is all done online. Keep in mind, that you are a faceless name, so keep trying or sign up for theme weeks that might narrow your chances of scoring that audition.

If you live local (or semi-local) to where any of these shows tape, it’s an added bonus. I am two hours from Los Angeles so I would be considered “in the area.”

With Wheel of Fortune (and Millionaire for that matter) you will first be given a written test. On Wheel of Fortune, the test was composed of several “fill in the blanks” hangman type puzzles. You must get a certain number correct to even be considered further.

I auditioned for Wheel in a hotel ballroom in Los Angeles. There were several hundred people who were in the room to begin with. After taking the written test, we were down to a couple dozen.

They want to know you’ll be able to play the game and it helps weed the crowds down significantly.

My advice at this point would be to eat your wheaties, rest, watch the show, practice and most importantly…relax. Try and fill in as many answers as possible even if it is just the word “the”. Just know, at this point, you need to perform or you won’t even have a chance to show producers how great you are as a person.

Ok, Now you’ve passed the test and now you have to really dazzle them. At my Wheel audition, we played a mock game. I knew I only had a few minutes to impress so I spoke clear and loud, I clapped and looked confident. Before long, we were told that was it and we would be receiving a postcard in the mail within the next 30 days if we were going to be in the contestant pool. If we received that card, we had up to a year to be called back to film an episode.

I got lucky and received my postcard and a phone call within days. They wanted me to appear the following week!

What happened on the show is a different story for another time, but I won some nice cash and all it cost me was some gas money and a night’s stay at a hotel in Los Angeles. It gave me a taste for the game show challenge.

Next up was Family Feud. While on vacation (with my family of 5- before spouses) we caught an episode of Family Feud. At the end, there was a phone number listed if you wanted to become a contestant. I called and left a message with our contact info and an e-mail address.

We got an email within a few weeks with an appointment date and time in the Los Angeles area. I’d imagine that scheduling is one of the hardest parts of casting for Family Feud, but the audition was a priority for our family so off we went to the audition.

What you see on “the Feud” is what they want. They want fun, loud, confident and maybe a little kooky. Some families were in matching shirts and while I’m not sure how far that got them, I certainly remembered them.

They want to see you get along and encourage and, like I said, I’m sure that scheduling is a tough part of Family Feud. You have to get 5 adults who are related, who can give up time to audition and then spend a day appearing all on the show’s time frame. If you’re serious, be accommodating to their schedules and make it happen. You’re more likely to make it. We ended up appearing on Family feud for 2 episodes and walking away with $20,000 to split between the family members.

The last show I appeared on was ‘Who Wants to be a Millionaire.’ I’m still not sure why I did this one as I am much more capable at puzzles than trivia, but what the heck? They wanted me for the show.

I went to a local casting call since the show is filmed in New York City. Even better was that I used my own advice on How to Win Radio Contests and scored a front of the line pass for the audition by winning a radio call in contest. This meant that I was able to show up right at the start time and breeze ahead of everyone who had camped out overnight. I was the 10^th person that casting producers got to meet!

*Good Tip*

Look at local radio and television stations sponsoring the casting call. They might have opportunities to score these ‘front of the line’ passes.

While we waited just a few minutes, we filled out our applications; answered questions about our background, shows we’d appeared on, political nominations, why we like Meredith Viera and general questions about what makes us interesting.

At this point, I recommend writing LEGIBLY, to the point and pepper your responses with wit and charm. They might not choose someone who’s interests include watching TV and reading, but may choose someone who has watched all 12,000 episodes of Law and Order ever made.

The audition was in a large auditorium. We took a timed test on general trivia and were told, in advance, that a certain # of questions would get us through. Those who didn’t get the minimum number correct were quickly excused. The test was tough, but I managed to get a high enough score to proceed to the next round.

We were then ushered to a series of smaller rooms where producers took Polaroid of us (my eyes were closed!) and gave us a 30 second interview; why would you be good, etc… We were then sent on our way. The 30 second interview, the Polaroid, test and hopefully a smart application will decide if you make it or not.

Same thing on Millionaire as Wheel; they’ll give you a postcard within about 3 weeks that will put you in a contestant pool for three years. I got my postcard on the very last of those three weeks and then a phone call just a day later asking if I could be in New York 2 weeks later.

Couple of tips you MUST know:

• Travel is YOUR responsibility. Whether it is New York or LA, you will pay to get there and there are no guarantees on winning. Be prepared.
• When in doubt, try out. The answer is always no until you ask.
• Flaunt your assets and sell yourself. You have to find the perfect balance between looking really good and being the everyman that Americans want to root for.

I do have some thoughts on how to perform better once you actually get on the show (hindsight is always 20-20) but we’ll save that for another day. Just know that when you’re actually up there, it’s a lot harder than it looks!

Here are some links to major network castings…GO FOR IT!

http://www.nbc.com/Casting/

http://abc.go.com/site/casting.html?lid=ABCCOMGlobalFooter&lpos=CASTING

http://www.bravotv.com/Casting/index.php

http://www.wheeloffortune.com/contestantsandtickets/beacontestant/adult/

http://www.jeopardy.com/contestants_searchinfo.php

http://www.millionairetv.com/info-contestant.html

http://www.familyfeud.tv/beonshow.shtml

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