An Albany resident and her best friend have experienced what they are calling the thrill of a lifetime and everyone from Clinton County will be able to watch the event play out on Friday of this week.

Erica McWhorter-Hill, of Albany, and her friend, Kristy Flowers Williams, of Burkesville, were recent team contestants on an episode of Wheel of Fortune.

Taped at the Sony Studios in Culver City, California, McWhorter-Hill told the Clinton County News on Monday of this week that the trip to California to compete in the famous television game show Wheel of Fortune began when she and Williams attended a Wheelmobile event in Nashville, Tennessee in the fall of 2018.

“It was a random draw and we did not get selected on stage, but we received an email four weeks later that they had reviewed our application and would like us to appear at a final audition in Nashville in December, 2018,” McWhorter-Hill said. “We also had to take a written test and it was like the worst game of hangman ever! We auditioned individually and when they found out we were best friends, they had us to play a round together.”

She said they eventually received an email in December 2019, a year later, with a tape date for January 10, 2020 in Culver City, California. Although they had to pay their own expenses for the trip along with family members who accompanied them, she noted that there was no hesitation in making travel plans.

“We booked our flights that day!” she said.

McWhorter-Hill noted that the episode that she and Williams appear on will air this Friday, February 21, on local ABC affiliates – WBKO Channel 13 in Bowling Green and WKRN Channel 2 in Nashville. Both stations will air the episode at 6:30 p.m. central time

She said that she and Williams were appearing in Friday’s episode as a part of Wheel of Fortune’s “Girlfriend Getaways” week, a special series that the show’s public relations department described to the Clinton County News as featuring “pairs of girlfriends teaming up to compete and win once-in-a-lifetime vacations, new cars, and cash prizes!”

McWhorter-Hill is married to Jereme Hill, who traveled to California for the show taping with her, along with her father, Ned McWhorter, and a niece, McKenna Abbott. Williams is married to Keaton Williams, who also made the trip along with their daughter, Macey.

The Wheel of Fortune press release about Friday’s episode noted that the pair of contestants have been best friends for seven years, adding in the pairs bio that “They are both married with children and work in the same building. Kristy is a pharmacist who has two children. She loves boating on Dale Hollow Lake and baking. Erica is a graduate of Western Kentucky University, nurse practitioner, and mother to one child. Kristy and Erica enjoy traveling together, “with and without their families.” Both women have been watching America’s Game® since childhood and took the first steps to become contestants when they attended a Wheelmobile event in Nashville.”

McWhorter-Hill said that all five shows playing this week were taped on the same day their episode was taped, and that the Friday showing was selected through a random draw process.

“The Wheel weighed approximately 2,400 pounds and was very hard to spin! Pat and Vanna were amazing and so kind. We saw Vanna that morning without makeup and in yoga attire and she was so kind,” McWhorter- Hill said. “ I told Pat I was from the Dale Hollow Lake area and he knew exactly where that was.”

She added that the show receives about one million applications each year, and from that, it has about 10,000 auditions with only 600 contestant spots awarded. She noted it was amazing just to make it through the auditions, much less be selected to appear on an episode.