Firefighter Competes on 'Wh_el of For_tun_' This Week

Matt Deliberto doesn’t just like game shows; he’s “obsessed” with them, “addicted” to them, a self-diagnosed “game show junkie.”

And when you get a chance to be on one, as the Plainfield firefighter will tell you, it’s an opportunity you don’t pass up.

Last September, he got his big shot. When the “Wheelmobile” – yes, this is what they call the 39-foot Winnebago that travels the country seeking “Wheel of Fortune” contestants – pulled into the Horseshoe Casino in Hammond, Ind., Deliberto was there.

They liked what they saw, sent him to Chicago for a second round of interviews and testing, and green-lighted him to be on the show in December. Less than two months later, he was summoned to Los Angeles for the taping.

How did he fare? You’ll find out when the program airs at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday on ABC-TV (Channel 7).

Deliberto’s prohibited from saying if he won – that would ruin the surprise – but he will confirm that he bought some vowels, didn’t go bankrupt and “started out slowly but made up for it at the end.”

“My show was tough because it was ‘Go Green Week’ … they turned back the clock to the 1960s,” he said.

In other words, they were “recycling” by having contestants solve puzzles using phrases and sayings popular 50 years ago. That was “way back when” for Deliberto, who’s only 28. Fortunately, he and his fellow contestants were all about the same age, he said.

(For those unfamiliar with the game, participants are shown a series of words with most of the letters missing. Each spins a wheel, which determines how much they will win if they select a letter that appears in the phrase. If they guess correctly, they spin again. If their guess is incorrect, the next contestant gets a shot. The puzzle can be solved at any time by the player who is currently spinning.)

For Deliberto, it literally was a “once-in-a-lifetime” opportunity. Anyone who’s been a contestant on the show cannot apply again.

That Deliberto, a Lombard native and father of four, made it to the first level was just luck of the draw. He and hundreds of other “Wheel” contestant-wannabes submitted applications and waited for their names to be randomly selected. Those chosen were given a chance to play the game and show their stuff, he said.

“I knew they were looking for people with personality, so I tried to make them laugh,” he said.

From that group, 78 people were invited in November to come to the Palmer House Hilton Hotel in Chicago for interviews and a written test in which they were to solve 16 puzzles in an allotted amount of time, he said. He came up with 13 correct answers, he said.

By Christmas, he had received a letter notifying him that he would, indeed, be a contestant but that it could be as long as two years before he got the call, Deliberto said. It ended up being more like six weeks.   

Deliberto and his wife, Lisa, flew to California for the Feb. 11 taping and to enjoy a “50-hour honeymoon,” since they didn’t take one when they married six years ago. His mother watched their children, ages 5, 4, 2 and 8 months.

So, what surprised him the most? “I thought the wheel would be bigger,” he said.

Did he get to meet Pat Sajak and Vanna White? “Vanna came by the contestant room to say hello. She told us to relax and to buy vowels,” he said, but Sajak didn’t interact with any of the players when they weren’t taping.

How long did the taping take? Just 45 minutes for what is a 30-minute show, including commercials. They taped six shows in one day.

Any blunders? As a matter of fact, yes, Diliberto sheepishly admits. “I have to apologize in advance. I said ‘city of Plainfield’ instead of ‘village.’ … I cracked under the pressure.”

And speaking of pressure, how tough was it? “I started to get nervous when Pat and Vanna came out. … It’s a lot harder when you’re there in person. It’s very easy when you’re playing at home.”