Vanna White and Pat Sajak came to Washington this week looking for a few good contestants but no one from Georgetown was up to the test.

Auditions for Wheel of Fortune’s College Week and Washington D.C. Week were held Oct. 10 and 11 at the Mayflower Hotel, in D.C. Students from Georgetown, George Mason, Howard, University of Virginia, American, University of Maryland at College Park and area junior colleges tried out for spots on the show. There were three auditions each day, and the final decisions were made yesterday.

Wheel of Fortune official Gary O’Brien said officials chose contestants based on a “balance between the way they played the game, how they presented themselves and their results on the written test.” Although eight Georgetown students tried out during the numerous auditions, none were chosen to be contestants.

From this large pool of possible players, the Wheel of Fortune officials had to narrow the field down to 15 contestants for College Week and 15 for Washington D.C. week. Wheel of Fortune features College Week twice a year, and its next scheduled trips are to Hawaii and Texas.

Those who were selected to compete in this second round of tryouts were notified by mail. One contestant, a young woman named Stacey from the University of Maryland, explained that she had received her invitation in the mail while at work around 4:30 p.m. on Oct. 11, and that the last audition began at 7 p.m. that evening. As a result, she left work early and bought a pair of jeans from a store across the street so that she would not have to wear sweatpants to the audition, then drove down to Washington, D.C.

During the audition, the officials at the game table called out the first name of a randomly chosen contestant, at which point everyone in the room clapped and the person whose name was called stood up. The contestants sometimes began to jump up and down with excitement. When contestants asked for a letter which was included in the correct answer, they were rewarded with a ringing noise from the sound system and a round of applause from the audience. In a very similar fashion to the show, the contestant could decide to spin the wheel for money and to buy a vowel.

If the contestants did not ask for a letter which was included in the answer to the puzzle, a buzzer sounded and they had to sit down. Then the next contestant’s name was called. When contestants solved the puzzle they received free Wheel of Fortune merchandise, such as baseball caps, frisbees and tote bags.