Earning her ‘Fortune’

Right off the block, Maria Tsalabounis went bankrupt once, then twice. When it happened a third time, the Huntington Beach resident thought there was no way it could happen again.

“I was thinking after the third one, there was no way I could hit another,” she said. “The wheel was definitely against me, so it was frustrating.”

But Tsalabounis was wrong. The 28-year-old went bankrupt four times on “Wheel of Fortune,” but she still managed to solve two puzzles and walk home with more than $6,000.

Tsalabounis, a marine science technician with the U.S. Coast Guard, was on the game show in her Coast Guard uniform in November and made her screen debut Feb. 4. Being on the show was a new experience for Tsalabounis, who had played along at home for most of her life.

“At home, it’s always your turn, and you don’t have to worry about bankruptcy,” she said.

It was her boyfriend, Andrew Reyes, who signed her up for the show. Reyes was surprised, when he first moved in with her. She was so good at solving the puzzles that he went online and signed her up over the summer.

“She likes the show quite a bit, and she always solves the puzzles before the people on TV,” Reyes said.

When it was her turn to play, Tsalabounis said, she was relaxed and had fun, having already gotten all the nerves out when she was at the show as a stand-by, a contestant who waits on the set in case the planned one isn’t available. Being on set previously helped her get over the nerves of meeting hosts Vanna White and Pat Sajak, whom Tsalabounis called her “TV boyfriend.” Sajak lived up to his reputation and was nice and funny, Tsalabounis said.

Although the first visit helped her nerves, she had one more hurdle — introducing herself on-air. Once that was over, Tsalabounis said, being on the show was fun, and Sajak made the contestants feel comfortable. She wasn’t distracted by the audience or that she was on TV.

“It’s almost like you get kind of tunnel vision,” Tsalabounis said.

She solved two puzzles, “tap shoes” and “Observation deck of the Empire State Building,” to win $6,750. She hasn’t received the money yet, as the show has until June 4 to pay up, but Tsalabounis said she doesn’t really know what she is going to do with it — probably save it and spend a little shopping, she said.

Tsalabounis said some of her friends offered to beat up the male contestant who won.

“Everyone was saying that,” she said. “I was like, ‘It’s cool. It’s OK.’”