SLO man takes a spin on ‘Wheel of Fortune’ — and he has a name you might recognize
San Luis Obispo resident Bryan Idler hates watching himself on camera — even when he appears in TV commercials for his family’s business, Idler’s Home.
So he may encounter an issue when he appears on “Wheel of Fortune” on Thursday.
“This one will be extra-cringeworthy for me,” Idler said with a chuckle.
Idler, 35, has been watching “Wheel of Fortune” since childhood. But the Atascadero High School graduate said he started tuning in to the popular game show more regularly when his son was born in June 2018.
“I just said, ‘Hey, I can do that,’ ” Idler recalled, so he applied for “Wheel” online and then went to Los Angeles to audition.
In mid-October, Idler shot a “Great American Cities”-themed episode of “Wheel of Fortune” at Sony Pictures Studios in Culver City, with his wife and sister-in-law cheering him on in the audience. (His young son stayed home with Grandma.)
“It was tough at first,” Idler said, describing the experience as “a little nerve-racking.”
One thing he noticed during his time on the show? “That wheel is actually really, really heavy,” Idler said. “It’s a lot harder to spin than you think.” (The “Wheel of Fortune” wheel weighs about 2,400 pounds, according to ABC News.)
The son of Idler’s Home president Don Idler, Bryan Idler serves as the company’s operations manager and manages its San Luis Obispo appliance store. The Idler family has a total of four stores on the Central Coast, including showrooms in Paso Robles and Santa Maria.
Idler can’t yet share how well he fared on “Wheel of Fortune,” but he is planning a viewing party Thursday after The Cork Dorks Culinary Showdown event co-hosted by radio station Krush 92.5 at the San Luis Obispo Idler’s Home. “We’ll just hang out after that,” he said.
Hosted by Pat Sajak and Vanna White, “Wheel of Fortune” is the longest-running syndicated game show in U.S. history.
Tune in
Watch San Luis Obispo resident Bryan Idler on “Wheel of Fortune” at 7:30 p.m. Thursday on KSBY.
This story was originally published November 20, 2019 at 11:53 AM with the headline "SLO man takes a spin on ‘Wheel of Fortune’ — and he has a name you might recognize."
