THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, November 26, 1995 TAG: 9511230233
SECTION: SUFFOLK SUN PAGE: 20 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY LINDA MCNATT, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: SMITHFIELD LENGTH: Medium: 72 lines
Kristin Wilda was about to take off to the beauty salon, to have her blond locks dyed dark for her part as Eliza Doolittle in the Smithfield Little Theater production of ``My Fair Lady.''
Then the telephone rang.
The call was an offer for another role - a spot on the television game show ``Wheel of Fortune.''
So Wilda canceled her hair appointment and took off for Los Angeles.
``We had to be in Los Angeles on Oct. 19,'' she said after taping the shows in Hollywood. ``That gave us two weeks to get there. We were just lucky we had a couple of frequent-flyer tickets. We went out there with the idea that maybe I'd win enough so we could pay for tickets back home.''
The Smithfield woman's national debut is 7 p.m. Tuesday. And because she was a big winner - a new car, several trips and a bundle of cash - her run as a TV star continues for three nights, through Thursday.
The show, complete with Vanna and Pat, airs locally at 7 p.m. on WVEC-TV, Channel 13. Look for Wilda on the quiz show as a blonde.
Mother of four boys, she auditioned for ``Wheel of Fortune'' when the show came to Norfolk last year. She and her sister, Kieran Kramer of Winston-Salem, went together. And both of them, after a lengthy test involving word puzzles, were accepted as contestants.
Kramer's segment, in which she won about $35,000 in prizes and cash, was telecast last month.
Wilda, who was accompanied by her husband, Mike, an engineer at the Surry Nuclear Power Station, was an even bigger winner. Her prizes totaled more than $80,000.
``My husband wants to buy a little fishing boat for him and the boys. Maybe we'll get some furniture for the house and tuck some away.''
The Hollywood adventure was worth almost as much as the prizes, she said.
``I was impressed. Everybody was so genuinely warm and friendly, very down to earth. I didn't expect to find that in Hollywood.''
Neither did she expect the stars of the show, Vanna White and Pat Sajak, to be so friendly. The contestants never saw them until they were ready to tape. But Wilda said both were friendly and encouraging, and she was surprised to see White's baby running around on the set and to hear Sajak talk about his own two children so much.
``I had no idea how nervous I would be. I had promised the boys I would mention their names. I hope I got them right. By the end of the first show, I didn't think I was doing well, and my knees were like jelly. Things that have always been so easy become so difficult. It's very easy to panic.''
Wilda said she was also surprised at the lack of competitiveness. The contestants ate lunch together and, in just a couple of days, get to be fast friends. While on the show, she competed against a Virginia Tech graduate living in New Jersey, an engineer from Arizona, a student from Georgetown University, an aspiring screenwriter from Los Angeles.
Wilda isn't new at TV quiz shows. In 1982 she was on ``Family Feud'' with two of her seven siblings, her mom and dad, who live in Charleston, S.C. Her mother, originally from New York City, has appeared on ``Concentration'' and ``Jeopardy.'' A brother also was on ``Jeopardy.''
And beginning on the 28th, Wilda goes from one starring role to another: from the Smithfield Little Theater to ``Wheel of Fortune.''
What did she like best about the Hollywood gig?
``Oh,'' she said with a smile, ``it was fun to say I was from Smithfield, Va., on national TV.'' ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by JOHN H. SHEALLY II
``Wheel of Fortune'' winner Kristin Wilda shares a laugh with one of
her four sons, Timothy. Her ``Wheel'' episode will air 7 p.m.
Tuesday.
by CNB