This Easton resident, a huge Wheel of Fortune fan, will appear next week

Ricky Brown grew up selling drinking glasses and begging for food in Jamaica.

As a child, he only had access to three TV channels. One of these channels played the long-running game show Wheel of Fortunewhich Ricky said he always watched with his grandmother.

Now one Easton resident, the 39-year-old recently appeared on the game show he grew up watching.

An episode of Wheel of Fortune is broadcast at 19.30 on Wednesday 15 January with Ricky as a participant. His wife, Heather Brown, announced on Facebook that they are holding a screening party at Rivals Sports Bar & Restaurant5 Lehns Court.

The show continues to air ABC.

The couple have three children and Ricky works in a psychiatric hospital.

Heather and the patients at the hospital encouraged him to audition, Ricky said, adding that he “always wanted to blow it.”

Although he was reluctant, he eventually sent in a video audition telling them about himself and why he wanted to be on the show.

A few weeks later, Ricky was approached for one Zoom calls with Wheel of Fortune representatives, where they assessed the participants’ energy and personality.

“They were just mainly looking at our energy,” he said. “I’m a jerk and I’m hyper all the time, so it was natural for me.”

Until then, he wasn’t sure if it was real or just a scam. When he got on the Zoom call and saw Sony logo, he said he was “freaking out”.

After this first call, he received a follow-up email within hours inviting him to another Zoom call. This involved a puzzle test to assess his skills.

He said he was nervous, but believes it was his optimistic energy about his abilities that impressed the producers. This was the final stage in the interview process.

“They reminded us that over a million people audition a year,” Ricky said.

A few weeks later, he received another email inviting him to fly to Culver City, California to be on the show. He said that when he was invited, the producers gave him several dates to choose from. He said those invited to fly to California are not automatically selected to be on the show.

When he arrived in California with Heather, he had to meet with a legal team. After that, and after having breakfast with 21 other contestants, the producers said they would choose 18 to continue.

Ricky was one of them.

“It was amazing,” he said of being on the show. “It was an out-of-body experience.”

He said the stage is very large, about the size of a middle school auditorium. He said the audience is less personal, with enough room for 50-60 people.

The wheel is very heavy, said Ricky.

He was able to see what happens during the commercial breaks, where the stage was lowered and raised between commercial breaks and the team made adjustments and refreshed makeup.

he said Ryan Seacrest was “so cool”. Heather said he was the nicest man she had ever met and Vanna White is the “sweetest woman”.

Heather also came on stage for the final round during the shoot.

“It was absolutely incredible,” she said. “It was a mind-blowing experience. It doesn’t happen every day. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime experience.”

They can’t give away how he appeared on the show and other details, but Ricky is excited for everyone to watch the episode.

“It hasn’t really hit me yet. It was like a movie,” Ricky said.

Chelsea Can only be reached on [email protected]. Follow her on Instagram at @chelsealehighvalley.