Des Plaines couple to appear on Thursday's 'Wheel of Fortune'

Kelly Horvath was upset when "Wheel of Fortune" picked her husband, Russ, to audition for the game show in late 2016.

The Des Plaines couple had each entered a drawing to be on the show, but she got left out when producers came calling. As a longtime fan of the show, she has fond memories of watching with her family, even crediting it with helping her two children learn how to read.

As it turns out, however, both Kelly and Russ Horvath will be on the show when it airs at 6:30 p.m. Thursday on ABC 7.

Horvath was at her job at the Des Plaines Public Library when her husband, an art teacher at Palatine High School, called from the audition in downtown Chicago. The show was organizing episodes for families, and she needed to join him right away. She hopped a train to the city and arrived at the audition within an hour.

A year later in November - long after the Horvaths had given up hope of appearing on the show - they got the call to be ready for a show being taped in December.

That set off a flurry of studying trends and patterns of the puzzles. They also brushed up on Disney movies and characters, which is the theme for this week's shows.

"There's a whole science behind it," Horvath said.

Then came the recording at the Los Angeles studios, where the couple met hosts Pat Sajak and Vanna White. They got makeup from an Emmy-winning artist, even receiving touch-ups between rounds of the game. And plenty of practice turning the wheel.

"It's really, really, really heavy," Horvath said.

Of course, whether the Horvaths won is still a secret - they can't talk about the results until after the show airs Thursday night.