Jackson woman to appear as ‘Wheel of Fortune’ contestant
FOLLOW UP: Kristen McKenney gets the ‘spin’ of a lifetime on ‘Wheel of Fortune’
JACKSON, Tenn. — A West Tennessean gets the opportunity of a lifetime when she takes a spin on the “Wheel of Fortune.”
Every year Wheel of Fortune receives hundred of thousands of entries.
Kristen McKenney, a Jackson resident, has been sending in an audition video every year for as long as she can remember.
This October, she received the email of a lifetime.
“I am a huge psycho fan and I’ve always wanted to be on and finally made it,” McKenney said.
This has always been a dream for her.
“I’ve been wanting to do this forever, I’ve been watching forever,” said McKenney. “I watched it even before Pat Sajak was the host, when Chuck Woolery was the host.”
Her background has a lot to do with her love for Wheel of Fortune.
“Well I’m hugely competitive, number one. Number two, I love to play any kind of games, whether it be board games, outdoor games, croquet… I love words. I was an English major, I do crosswords everyday. And like I said, I watch the Wheel every single day,” McKenney said.
This was something McKenney also enjoyed watching with her mother.
“The last two years of her life, it was during Covid, she was kind of homebound and we, you know, sometimes I’ll skip a night if it’s like a Friday night and we’ve got plans, but the last two years of her life we watched it Monday through Friday.”
The most memorable moment for her was spinning the wheel for the first time.
“It was like everything was flashing through my mind. I was like ‘Oh my gosh, my mom would be so excited, and this is so cool, I’m actually standing here spinning the wheel.'”
McKenney says she never gave up. What motivates her, is when she wants something, she will go out and make it happen.
“This has been one of my bucket list dreams forever. I always consider myself kind of lucky, I don’t know, I kind of go out there and give joy to the world and sometimes I get joy back.”
And this might not be the end of the road to her fame.
“I’m going to keep auditioning for anything I want to do. Cause you might see me on something else down the line, who knows.”
McKenney welcomes everyone to a watch party at Baker Bros BBQ in downtown Jackson this Friday.
You can also catch on her “Wheel of Fortune” this Friday night at 6:30 p.m. on WBBJ ABC 7.
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