The category is “Chicago game show contestants” for $800.
The answer: Last March, she arrived for a taping of a game show without enough cash to pay her cab fare to Navy Pier but ended up $38,000 richer.
The correct question: Who is Erika Kokkinos?
Kokkinos, a Northwestern University graduate, said she persuaded the cab driver to believe she was a trustworthy person, telling him she was about to compete on College Week’s “Wheel of Fortune.”
“I went in with the mentality [that] I’m in it to win it,” said Kokkinos, 22, a video production coordinator who lives in Lakeview. She was right. On her first spin she won $10,000. “From there, I was like, ‘Hell yeah! This is mine,’ ” she said.
And it was. That day she won trips to Australia and Iceland. She also paid the cab driver that night.
“Am I the luckiest person on Earth? Yes, definitely,” she said.
So how can you, too, get lucky?
To find out, RedEye went behind the scenes with past game show contestants and casting producers and learned about the application process, auditions and contestants’ preparations for the main event. And, of course, what it’s like to win. Game shows traditionally are TV ratings winners and have been popular for years. They are getting even more buzz now thanks to Oscar winner “Slumdog Millionaire” and new shows including MTV’s “The Phone,” which starts later this month. What’s so fascinating about game shows?
“These are regular people and they’re on network TV, and that’s compelling because most of us are regular people,” said Michael Niederman, chairman of the TV department at Columbia College Chicago. “We identify with them.”
Not only do we identify with them, but we also play along with them. So if you think you’re smarter than a5th grader and want to try to prove it, take notes.
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lvivanco@tribune.com
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GETTING ON
Don’t just try to get on any game show. Go after the game you can play the best, said Scott Sternberg, executive producer of game shows including “Catch 21” on the Game Show Network and “The Gong Show.”
Good at solving word puzzles? Try “Wheel of Fortune.” Remember random facts? Apply for “Who Wants to be a Millionaire?”
Check the show’s Web site to find out how to apply and when and where nationwide casting calls are held. (“Jeopardy!” for example periodically offers an online test.)
Most have similar eligibility rules: Contestants should be at least 18 years old, should not have appeared on that game show before or within a specific time frame and should not have been on a game show, dating show or reality show in the last year — or three shows in the last 10 years.
But be warned: After applying, it’s possible not to hear back for months, if at all.
No application is necessary for “The Price Is Right.” Brooks Osman, 37, who moved from Wrigleyville to Maryland in December, flew to California in March 2007 with a free ticket to the show taping.
The show overbooks and ticketed fans who get there first are seated first. So Osman said he arrived from his hotel to CBS Studio in L.A. at 4:45 a.m. and waited in line 11 hours for the 4 p.m. show, jumping around to get noticed.
He not only got a seat, but he also made it down to contestant row and on stage — still jumping with excitement.
“Having that energy level, being fun and just being myself, I think they look for that,” Osman said.
On the show, he bid on and won three prizes, but didn’t make it to the Showcase Showdown.
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SCREENING THE TALENT
Potential contestants lucky enough to get an e-mail or call back are invited to an audition where they take another test, are interviewed and play a simulated game, past contestants told RedEye. After that, they are entered into the contestant pool — essentially a wait list — for 18 months.
At auditions, casting producers are looking for passionate and energetic contestants, Sternberg said. They want someone the viewer can love or love to hate, he said. Producers also look at how well contestants play the game and answer questions under pressure. For example, can they play to win but still show compassion for fellow competitors?
Streeterville resident Julie Bartoszek, 22, knew the audition was her only chance to wow “Wheel” producers. She passed a fill-in-the-blanks test, spun a wheel and called out letters. In the process, she said, she transformed herself into Miss Personality.
“They’re looking for somebody who could think quick on their feet, be loud and have high energy and essentially smile the whole time,” said Bartoszek, who won $13,439 in cash and prizes, including a trip to Mexico.
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PREPARATIONS
What’s harder, preparing for the Illinois Bar Exam or “Jeopardy!”?
Past contestant Deepak Tamasker’s answer: the game show, because “it’s an unlimited universe.”
He almost didn’t get the chance to find out, however. He got a call from the show two weeks before his all-important law exam and had to decline the opportunity to appear.
“I figured this [was] my chance. I blew it,” said Tamasker, a 31-year-old attorney living in Avondale. Luckily, he received an invitation again several months later to come on the show and accepted.
Though he didn’t study quite as hard as he did for the bar, he crammed information from an almanac and practiced “buzzing in” using a click-pen.
His practice paid off. He won two games and $25,401 on episodes that aired in February.
Another “Jeopardy!” contestant, Matt Kohlstedt, flipped through trivia books, studied lists of books and authors and brushed up on Inauguration Day trivia because his episode was set to air around the time Barack Obama was sworn into office.
The 28-year-old Northwestern alum from La Grange — now living in Washington, D.C. — also exercised on his roadbike trainer while answering questions to see how well he could do with his adrenaline pumping.
“I think I put a lot of pressure on myself. I really did want to win,” Kohlstedt said.
Maybe it paid off. He won five games for a total of $79,803, plus another $10,000 in the Tournament of Champions.
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THE BIG PAYOFF
Not everybody who competes on a game show walks away a winner. And not all winners walk away with cash.
On “The Price Is Right,” Osman correctly guessed the price of camping gear and Bowflex weight set. He won a bed — which he kept — but gave away the weights to a buddy. “I didn’t win a car, money or a trip,” he said. “I have a bed that might last me the rest of my life, which is super-comfortable.”
Winners have to pay taxes on prizes, and might not get their checks right after taping the show. “Wheel of Fortune,” for instance, says winners receive their cash or prizes within 120 days after the show airs.
So how do winning contestants spend the money? Thorpe Schoenle, 39, a firefighter who lives in Garfield Ridge, used the $464,000 he won on “Deal or No Deal” in 2006 to install a pool and a play-set in his backyard, take a trip to Disney World and pay for his children’s education. The lifelong Sox fan was recognized at a game and later asked to throw out the first pitch.
“What an amazing year in my life, as far as all the fun stuff I got to partake in,” he said.
