Hermosa Woman Wheels for Fortune

One memory that Hermosa Beach resident Kristina Lauf will always cherish is watching episodes of Wheel of Fortune with her grandmother while growing up as a young girl in Illinois, she said.

And now, years later, Lauf will be appearing on their favorite game show Friday.

Her grandmother recently passed away, but not before receiving the news that Lauf was selected to be a Wheel of Fortune contestant—making Lauf’s television experience that much more special.

“I got the voicemail and they asked me to be on the show for the next day,” Lauf told Patch on Wednesday. “I got super excited. Called my mom, my grandma… she was like one of my first phone calls and I’m glad that I got to call her.”

Lauf’s grandmother was getting her hair styled in a salon when Lauf called.

“She stopped and yelled out to all the ladies at the beauty salon and yelled, ‘my granddaughter is going to be on Wheel of Fortune,’” Lauf recalled.

Lauf has previously applied to appear on the show. She said that when she was 20 she stood in line for about three hours to be considered as a contestant. But “when it was my turn, they said I had to be 21 to apply,” she said. 

After giving it another try by applying online, Lauf was chosen to compete on a special Tennis Week rendition of Wheel of Fortune on Friday at 7:30 p.m. on ABC.

Lauf plans to watch the show with some of her coworkers at , where her favorite local band Sand Section will be performing. She works as a Budweiser sales representative. 

“Hopefully they won’t make fun of me too much,” she giggled.

For Tennis Week, Wheel of Fortune is partnering with the Tennis Channel to serve tennis-themed vacation packages on the show, and there will be special appearances by tennis players. 

While Lauf couldn’t reveal what will happen on Friday’s program, she did say that she plans to go shopping with her winnings. Her favorite Hermosa Beach store is on Hermosa Avenue.