Dr. Kristopher Oliveira’s appearance on “Wheel of Fortune” has been years in the making.
Ever since his spouse and fellow St. Cloud State University alumnus Alfredo Oliveira ’14, ’16 competed on the television show in 2023, the couple have continued watching the program. When it got to the point that Kristopher Oliveira was able to solve the tossup puzzles with only a couple letters revealed, he finally applied thanks to encouragement from his husband.
“After two years of him telling me and heckling me to apply, I applied back in May of 2025 and then the casting team reached out in early September, which is when they do the bulk of their recruiting,” Oliveira said.
He ended up being selected to record an episode of the show’s annual Disney Secret Santa week.
“The cool thing is: Alfredo — when he recorded — he also got to do the Disney Secret Santa week,” Oliveira said. “So it’s a really cool shared experience, even though it was different years with different hosts and everything.”
His husband is a common thread throughout multiple chapters of Oliveira’s life. In addition to their shared “Wheel of Fortune” experiences, his spouse also helped connect Oliveira with St. Cloud State. The two met as interns with the Human Rights Campaign in Washington, D.C., and then maintained a long-distance relationship until Oliveira moved out to Minnesota and enrolled at SCSU. He earned his master’s in higher education and student affairs in 2017, and was the interim director of the University’s LGBT Resource Center from 2016 to 2017.
“I had an incredible experience. I credit St. Cloud State for the success and opportunities I’ve had throughout the rest of my career,” he said. “Beyond getting early training as a student affairs program professional and pursuing a career working as an LGBT Resource Center professional, St. Cloud State was the first place where I was given the opportunity to lead a center.”
Oliveira went on to earn his PhD in sociology from the University of South Florida, before leading LGBTQ+ centers at the University of Kansas and Princeton University, respectively. He is now director of the LGBTQ+ Equity Center at the University of Maryland-College Park and a faculty affiliate with the Harriet Tubman Department of Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at the University of Maryland.
“My work is really around ensuring that we’re building an inclusive culture on campus that promotes belonging and a sense of community for the entire campus community, of course, but certainly centering on LGBTQ+ folks and those folks who have particularly felt like they haven’t been able to find their home on campus,” Oliveira said. “It was my dream job as an undergraduate student, and to have been at St. Cloud State as a grad student and have that job realized so early, it really allowed me to focus in on how can I offer to the broader field — like my colleagues across the country — community spaces or spaces to come together to talk about challenges in ways that give us a sense of hope when things don’t always feel as hopeful.”
It’s important to find the joy in life, whether it’s finding work you’re passionate about, spending time with loved ones, or competing on your favorite game show.
When he went out to California to record his episode of “Wheel of Fortune,” he was able to spend a day in the studio watching five other recordings as well.
“If I could say nothing else, I would say it’s just the most fun you can have,” he said. “I think there are times where we’re reminded of a time when we were younger, maybe when we were kids, where you can just go and truly play. And that’s what the day felt like.”
He encouraged others on the fence about applying to compete on the show to take the chance.
“If you’re having that couch moment where there’s one letter up on the board, but you know the category and you know the puzzle immediately — you are the candidate; apply. They are always looking for people. It can be scary to think about being on television, but they work to make it such a really cool, comfortable environment, and you really do feel supported through the whole process,” Oliveira said. “Even if you have a little bit of stage fright, but you think you’ve got what it takes, I would say apply. The only person that’s holding yourself back is you, so apply.”
Oliveira’s episode of “Wheel of Fortune” will air at 6:30 p.m. (CST) Friday, Dec. 5 on WCCO Channel 4 in the local St. Cloud area.
Addendum posted Dec. 10, 2025: Oliveira ended his night on “Wheel of Fortune” with $3,000.
