‘Mom, we made it to Wheel’: Lake in the Hills woman wins big on game show

Linda Keyes recalls her mother spending a half-hour after dinner riding her stationary bike while watching “Wheel of Fortune.”

The Lake in the Hills woman also remembers when the game show aired during the daytime and contestants would “shop” for prizes with their earnings. She watched with her own kids, too.

Keyes has added another spoke to her “Wheel” connection: She appeared on Tuesday night’s episode, which aired on ABC 7 Chicago. The show was taped last fall, the same season her mother died.

So Keyes’ appearance is “homage to her,” Keyes said. “Mom, we made it to Wheel.”

And Keyes won big, including $40,000 in the bonus round by guessing the phrase “Working around the yard.”

Keyes, who works in the central office in Arlington Heights-based Township High School District 214 and formerly was employed for many years by Algonquin-based Community Unit District 300, said she first auditioned a couple of years ago when Sony Pictures Television, which produces the show, was looking for contestants for an episode featuring educators. Keyes never heard back. But last year, she received an email offering another chance to audition.

She prepared a video and auditioned over Zoom. But after not hearing back for months, she figured that was that.

Then she learned she had been accepted as a contestant for a show taping in two weeks, setting off a “mad dash” to prepare, learn the ropes and rules and book her travel to Los Angeles — at her own expense.

Keyes could not say how things went, of course. But she planned a watch party Tuesday evening with friends and colleagues in Carpentersville.

She thinks the personality and confidence she showed in her audition video helped her nab her spot in the spotlight. And surprisingly, she said that once she got on stage, “I was calm,” even though “going into it, I was really super nervous.”

But the familiarity of the music and the set — and having her people in the live audience — settled her nerves, Keyes said.

Coincidentally, another person with local ties appeared on the show on Monday. Krystal Adams of Kenosha, Wisconsin, who attended Johnsburg High School, not only won nearly $18,000 but saw Vanna White give a shoutout to Adams’ dog, Buttercup.

ABC 7 Chicago also reports that “Wheel of Fortune” will have a contestant search during the Chicago Auto Show this weekend.