SPARTA – Carla Householder got to spin the “Wheel of Fortune,” but won’t let on whether she was a “big money winner” or not until after her episode of the popular syndicated game show runs on Friday.

“I signed an agreement that I can’t talk about it,” she said in an interview this week. Yes, she can talk about being ON the show and how nice Pat and Vanna are, and how nervous she was under the television lights.

She can relate that the contestants were told the “wheel” weighs 2,300 pounds (that’s over a ton), and the best way to spin the wheel is to grab and push the top half of the pegs to spin to see how much the letter you call out will be worth.

Householder even was able to relate how it was her daughter, Mariel, who actually sent off a video of “Mom” back in April.

She was on a weekend in Florida about a week later when she got the call that she had been selected to begin the “selection process,” and given instructions for a Zoom interview with a production company interviewer.

“We had to guess a puzzle,” she recalled. “I guess I did OK because they wanted to set up a second interview.”

That stage, again via Zoom, was a simulated game against three other potential contestants. “We had to say ‘ding’ to get in to solve the puzzle,” she explained. “I think we did like 15, 20 of those.”

It was then in the producers’ hands, she said.

In early November came the phone call telling her she had made the cut. Householder said she had no idea the call would be from the show.

“But my thought (when the phone rang) was ‘OK, who got engaged? Who’s having a baby?’ I had almost forgotten about the show,” she recalled.

Householder said she has been a fan of “Wheel of Fortune” almost since it premiered in January 1975 as a daytime game show. It became an evening syndicated program in 1983 with Pat Sajak hosting both day and night versions of the show. It left network daytime schedule in 1991 but has continued in syndication since then, all with Sajak as host.

Householder has been a fan of the game since it debuted, and remembers her daughter, Mariel, sitting on her lap as she worked out the solutions to the puzzles.

“I think she actually learned her letters from watching with me,” she chuckled. “Wheel is a lot less complicated than ‘Jeopardy!’”

The show was taped in December. “I didn’t see Pat (Sajak) until he came out to tape our show.”

And the show?

“That was a blur,” she said, “Nerve-wracking.”

She excuses no memories “because during the actual taping, I was so concentrating on the board.

“We stuck to the half-hour format. I don’t believe there was going to be much editing,” she said of that 30 minutes being on state.

Looking back on the whole experience, Householder said, “I think I was more on edge with the Zooms. The show wasn’t really as bad.”

She is planning on watching the finished show with family – and has an edge since she already knows the “answers.”

Householder holds a degree in communications and marketing and worked “for decades in the retail world.”

She said she retired from Walmart, but recently went back to work part time in the cafeteria at the high school. There, word has spread around that she has been on “Wheel.”

“There’s going to be a lot of kids watching that show,” she said.

She said she will be attending a watch party at the Sparta VFW with about 75 other guests.

The non-disclosure agreement keeps her from talking about her results, or really, any of what happened in that half-hour taping.

“So, you didn’t drive home in a new car?” she was asked.

“No,” she replied. “I really didn’t want to win one.”