Mark Grotto’s spin of stardom began Oct. 27 aboard a 32-foot long, bright yellow Winnebago that rolled into Chicago’s Rosemont Theatre. The student from the University of Illinois at Chicago caught up with the Wheelmobile, hoping for the once in a lifetime opportunity to solve puzzles on America’s favorite game show.

Grotto’s knack for buying vowels paid off. He was selected to appear as a contestant during Wheel of Fortune’s College Week. The episodes, which air this week, feature two other University students who survived the highly selective screening process to be chosen as wheel spinners, competing for thousands of dollars in cash and prizes.

“There was a written test where we had to solve puzzles with just a few letters and the category given,” said Mike Gaffney, whose episode airs Friday. During the second half of the audition, a simulated Wheel of Fortune game on a makeshift stage, the junior in LAS won an autographed photo of Guinness Book of World Records “Television’s Most Frequent Clapper,” Vanna White.

Of the 1 million Wheel of Fortune watchers who apply to appear on the show each year, only 3,200 get the chance to audition, and 600 get to spin the wheel on national television.

Grotto said during his audition he acted as energetic and crazy as possible, hoping to leave a memorable impression. Producers make cuts after the three-hour audition and notify finalists by mail if they will be spinning the wheel on national TV for the 47 million viewers who tune in each week.

“I was checking the mail every day, sometimes two, three times a day until it came,” Grotto said.

Eventually he was invited to Navy Pier for filming, along with Gaffney and Leslie Olive, sophomore in LAS. The Chicago set was part of a year-long celebration of Wheel of Fortune’s historic 25-year anniversary and host Pat Sajak’s hometown.

“Being the only person actually from Chicago during college week, it was like I had the home crowd cheering for me, which added to the excitement and nerves,” said Gaffney, who competed against college students from Indiana and Iowa.

All five College Week episodes were taped during one long day. Olive was first to take the stage, winning $3,000 in toss-up questions during the episode that aired Monday.

While filming, she got to chat with Hollywood walk of fame member Sajak, who let her in on his Illini pride.

“He said he wanted his son to go to our school, but he is going to go to Northwestern instead,” Olive said.

Grotto showed up on set with a special message for Pat printed across his chest. Under his UIC sweatshirt was a T-shirt he printed with the phrase, “I spun Pat’s Wheel!” Grotto never got the chance to show off his creative attire because he was too caught up in the excitement of winning $33,650 in cold, hard cash.

All three students agreed on two Wheel of Fortune facts – Pat and Vanna seemed shorter in person, and playing in the studio in front of a live audience was “surreal.”

Six thousand fans showed up to watch the show and cheer for the contestants. Their Adrenalin made the game show more intense than solving puzzles from the couch or computer chair.

“In preparation, I played The Wheel computer game as much as I could, watched the show and played along,” said Gaffney, who admitted he was quite nervous on stage.

Grotto played Hangman with friends and kept up with Wheel on TV, something he’s been doing for quite some time.

“My dad and I would always make it a priority to watch it together back in the day, and we still did that up until the day I went to college,” he said. “It’s icing on the cake now that I have been a contestant on the show!”

Wheel of Fortune airs on WAND weeknights at 6:30 p.m.