Jerrica Stovall, associate director of Student Involvement as USF St. Petersburg, won $42,000 in prizes, including a 2019 Nissan Versa and a cruise to France during her run on Wheel of Fortune. Courtesy of Jerrica Stovall.
By Katlynn Mullins
First, she submitted a video and didn’t hear back.
Six months later, she drove to Cape Coral, Florida, to audition and never even got on stage.
“There’s a possibility you can get called into a second-round interview,” producers told her. But she was skeptical.
Then she got the email — come back to Cape Coral for the second round.
“If you’re in our contestant pool, you’ll hear back from us in 14 days,” the producers told her after the audition.
On day 16, Jerrica Stovall, associate director of Student Involvement as USF St. Petersburg, was finally invited to Los Angeles to compete on Wheel of Fortune.
“I could not miss the opportunity,” she said.
Stovall watched the show every night growing up. She was sent paperwork to study, and her husband helped her prepare throughout the two weeks before filming.
She felt confident in her ability to think logically and solve puzzles, even with all the commotion going on in the studio.
“I just remember being really nervous,” Stovall said.
Before filming, contestants had to practice with the 2,400-pound wheel and get sized with a platform to ensure their belly button met with the buzzer.
In the end, Stovall won $42,000 in prizes, including a 2019 Nissan Versa and a cruise to France.
