The same combination of skill and luck that took Ryan Muldowney as far as he did didn’t quite carry him to the promised land.
The 37-year-old Jefferson Hills native and Los Angeles transplant competed on Wednesday night’s episode of NBC’s “Wheel of Fortune” and, frankly, didn’t look like he would be much of a factor at first. That all changed when he hit the $1 million spot on one particularly fortunate wheel spin. Muldowney said he was so focused on the next puzzle that he didn’t even realize $1 million was in play until one of the other contestants told him to look down.
Muldowney, a Slippery Rock University graduate, would go on to be the night’s big winner, taking home $14,850 and a trip to Costa Rica. However, he wound up leaving $38,000 on the table with unfortunate letter-guessing in the bonus round. He had almost no chance of getting “check my availability” with the letters he chose to start the puzzle.
“It’s a bittersweet congratulations because of the bonus round,” Muldowney told the Post-Gazette after his episode aired. “And the internet’s telling me I’m an idiot. I thought I played a pretty good game!... If I called the ‘A,’ maybe it would have been a different story.”
Muldowney, a freelance writer and producer of documentaries and reality shows, actually did very well against retired school teachers Alayna Gilbert and Beverle Robertson, two tough competitors.
That was no accident: He spent the weeks after finding out he would be on the show training via puzzle books, watching YouTube clips of bonus rounds and even playing the “Wheel of Fortune” video game with his fiance.
“My mindset going in was, if I had terrible wheel luck, I could live with that,” he said. “I just didn’t want to make any bad decisions that would cost me a win.”
He made a quick impression on host Pat Sajak, who teased Muldowney for his unbridled enthusiasm. “It was a life achievement. I just wanted to play along with him. ...”
“As I’m watching the intros, it’s just hilarious that they paired me up with two retired schoolteacher grandmothers. Did they do that on purpose to put this long-haired, hippie-looking guy in the middle?”
To apply for “Wheel of Fortune,” Muldowney said he threw together a 45-second video of himself and submitted it on the show’s website. He figured the potential talent pool was as low due to the COVID-19 pandemic, so now was the time to give this a shot. He was quickly called in for a casting interview and a few weeks later given his recording date.
The episode was taped on one day in January along with six others, Muldowney said. It was a 7 a.m.-7 p.m. affair that began with an orientation session. They had to practice spinning the wheel to get comfortable with it and were told that they couldn’t halt the game’s momentum for any reason.
Filming began at noon, and the audiences for each show were comprised of contestants from the previous shoots. Muldowney said that everyone was masked and social distancing was enforced when the cameras weren’t rolling. The atmosphere was a bit subdued overall, he said, but his natural high-energy demeanor allowed him to quickly get into the game’s rhythm.
“I didn’t want to be a wet blanket up there,” he said. “I was having a good time and I wanted to put that across. I thought maybe if I keep the excitement and enthusiasm, the wheel would come around for me.”
And it did, as Muldowney went from bankrupt one round to hitting the $1 million spot soon after.
He said he has a year to take the Costa Rica vacation, plenty of time for him and his fiance to figure out the logistics for themselves and their 14-month-old son. Muldowney fooled his fiance when he returned from taping the show. He pretended to mope until the two were eating pizza. Then he proclaimed, “I’m not sure how the pizza is going to taste in Costa Rica.”
Though Muldowney has been living in Los Angeles for 15 years, he apparently has plenty of hometown fans. After “Wheel of Fortune” aired, he was flooded with supportive messages from friends and family from all over, including the Steel City.
And despite “living out something that people dream about,” he hopes his TV career is not over. Muldowney has his sights set on another reality show, CBS’ “Survivor.”
“That’s when $1 million is going to come to me,” he said. “To [‘Survivor’ host] Jeff Probst, if he’s reading this, give me a call. If you want to bring some of this flavor to ‘Survivor,’ I’m happy to oblige.”
Joshua Axelrod: jaxelrod@post-gazette.com and Twitter @jaxel222.
First Published: April 15, 2021, 3:19 p.m.
