Gilbertsville resident competes on ‘Wheel of Fortune’

DOUGLASS >> If you’re a fan of “Wheel of Fortune,” you may have recognized one of the contestants on March 9’s episode.

Gilbertsville resident Troy Carter was recently given the opportunity to compete on the show, an experience Carter said was a “fantastic time.”

Carter said he applied to be on the show after some encouragement from his 10-year-old daughter, Katherine, who is a big fan of the show.

“My daughter watches the show religiously and suggested I be on it. I pulled up the show and looked up how to get on and it was a matter of filling out an application and doing a short video so I did it and sent it in,” said Carter.

A few months later, Carter received an email about an audition date in New York. Carter went to the audition where he said they did mock games and a series of challenging puzzles.

“It was like a five minute test with 50 different puzzles in all kinds of different categories and it was difficult. It just flew by. Then they held some people back for other rounds and then they told everyone if they didn’t hear anything in two weeks then thanks for coming. The 15th day the letter showed up saying I’d be on the show,” he explained.

A couple months later, Carter went to Los Angeles with his wife, Kris, for the taping and explained that the actual show is a little different than an at home experience.

“I was much more nervous than I first thought. The game goes so fast. It’s definitely different than watching it on your couch,” he laughed. “At home, it’s very slow and it’s always your turn. It’s actually more difficult than you think to solve the puzzle and have a letter ready to go. Then someone takes your let-

ter and you have to come up with another one real quick. The wheel is also much heavier than you think.”

But for all the difficulty, Carter said the environment on the show was very supportive, including the show’s hosts, Pat Sajak and Vanna White.

“Vanna came early and she dropped by to say ‘hi’ and they were super nice. In between the rounds Pat is talking to you and they’re really encouraging. He congratulated us and told us we were solving puzzles well and picking good letters,” Carter said. “They tape six shows in one day so there were 20 people there and everyone was super nice. Everyone wanted everyone to win. It’s a supportive group.”

Carter said that after the show, any winnings would go toward a trip to Italy that he and his wife had always wanted to take. He said he was also planning on letting his daughter and 13-year-old son, Joe, pick their own vacation.

“We said that if we win anything we will give kids a choice for what they want to do whether it’s Disney or whatever they want to do. They can dream up their own vacation,” he said.

Carter had been keeping his friends and family in suspense about how he did until the show aired. He and his family even held a viewing party and invited friends to attend.

“We’re having a bit of a viewing party and we’ll do appetizers and stuff like that,” Carter said Wednesday. “I keep telling my friends if I’m drunk when you get there it’s because I didn’t do well,” he joked.

The fact that Southeast Pennsylvania has so many pharmaceutical companies and universities, as well as four of the largest cancer centers in the United States, will make that much easier.

“Southeast Pennsylvania is expected to have 40 percent of the state’s patient population for medical marijuana products,” Cohn said.

He also said he would like to see the doctors at the Southeast Veterans Center get involved in research for using the products to help with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among the veterans it treats.

“Nationwide about 56 percent of doctors support the legalization of medical marijuana, but in Pennsylvania, the figure is closer to 76 percent,” Cohn said.

Since the state application period for permits began last month, the region has been swamped with proposals seeking the backing of municipal boards to gain any kind of advantage possible in the highly competitive venture.

Given that only two permits will be given out in the six-county region, which includes Philadelphia, “it will be tough to beat the Sniders, but we’ll give it our best shot,” joked Cohn.

A company run by two children and a grandson of late Philadelphia Flyers owner and medical marijuana user Ed Snider have proposed a 125,000-squarefoot grow facility, according to an article in the Northeast Times.