SCSU alumni couple wins big on ‘Wheel of Fortune’ 

Watching “Wheel of Fortune” is a bit of a tradition for St. Cloud State University alumni Ashley and Chris Walker.

Ashley Walker grew up watching the gameshow with her family, and the couple now watch it just about every weeknight with their daughters.

“As our kids were getting older and wanting to watch TV a bunch, we had a rule that, when we’re eating dinner, there’s no TV allowed — except for ‘Wheel of Fortune,’” Chris Walker said.

“Because it’s educational, because they can learn their letters,” Ashley added.

The family tradition took on a life of its own, as the couple was selected to compete on the show for its Valentine’s Day-themed Sweethearts Week. The couple ended up taking home $65,900 from their episode that aired Feb. 12 in the St. Cloud area, and were looking forward to watching the episode with their daughters when interviewed before the episode’s airing.

The Walkers — both 2008 Mass Communications graduates — attended SCSU with the initial intent of going into sports broadcasting. They shared classes and UTVS duties together, and Ashley also worked at KVSC.

“That’s kinda how we met, was through UTVS,” Ashley said.

The couple now live in Grand Rapids, Minnesota with their “firecrackers for daughters” — 7 1/2-year-old Kirby and 5-year-old Suzette — along with their 13-year-old dog Walleye. Ashley “specializes in fun” as a recreation specialist for Commercial Recreation Specialists, and Chris is a development director for KAXE public radio station — which he said is the country’s first rural public radio station. 

The journey to victory on “Wheel of Fortune” started when Ashley encouraged Chris to apply to audition for the show. In March 2023 he received an email inviting him to audition by virtually competing against five other contestants. He thought he did pretty well, but didn’t hear back for months and assumed he had been passed over. Then in October 2023, he was emailed with an invitation to audition again — this time with his spouse for the program’s Sweethearts Week. Chris said he was immediately excited at the prospect of competing as a couple, as he said Ashley grew up watching “Wheel of Fortune” and is a bigger fan. The Walkers auditioned together virtually in November, and found out in December they’d be competing on the show. 

“It was right before Christmas, because I joked with her (Ashley), ‘Hey I got you another Christmas present,’” Chris said.

The couple filmed their episode in January.

“How many people get this opportunity?” Ashley said. 

She believes they were selected to compete on the program thanks to their anniversary story. To celebrate 10 years of marriage, the couple wanted to take what they call a “Yes Man” trip. In the movie of the same name, main characters portrayed by Jim Carrey and Zooey Deschanel must say yes to every opportunity that arises, including going to the airport and accepting the next flight to depart — ultimately traveling to Lincoln, Nebraska. The Walkers loved the idea, and called up their preferred airline to see if similar arrangements could be made. 

“They said, ‘It’s a good idea, we like it,’” Ashley said. “‘However, that’s a movie, this is real life, and you can’t really do that. You have to tell us where you want to go.’ We were so bummed.”

Luckily, friends of the couple stepped in and offered to help make the trip happen for them. Their friends used an online U.S. city generator and made all the travel arrangements for the Walkers. The couple arrived at the airport at the time they were instructed, when they were then allowed to open an envelope revealing their destination: South Haven, Mississippi. While the getaway wasn’t the best vacation they’d ever been on, there was a silver lining for the Walkers.

“Our anniversary trip was super lame. It was such a bust. We could have gone somewhere actually cool, instead we went to South Haven where — if you look it up — the number one attraction is a furniture store, followed by a thrift store,” Ashley said. “We think the 10-year anniversary was actually worthwhile because it led to ‘Wheel of Fortune.’” 

Filming and competing on the show was a surreal experience, Chris said.

“It’ll be the fastest 20 minutes of your life,” he said. “You’re so focused. Pat is really good about being quick-witted and making a little small talk, and I remember telling Ashley afterward, ‘I don’t even remember what he said.’”

“For me, the experience was a really out-of-body experience,” Ashley continued. “I wasn’t even looking at the board. I was thinking ‘Okay, what do we have to do next? We have to spin, we have to call a letter, call a vowel.’ I wasn’t even looking at the job at hand, which is solving puzzles.”

Chris said everybody they worked with at the studio was incredibly nice and accommodating, with Ashley adding that it was nice to be spoiled with professional hair and makeup, most of which was done in the “Jeopardy!” studio. 

The best part? The show was something fun the Walkers got to do together. 

“I’m just so happy Ashley was with me, because — all those things you’ve got to think of — it was really nice to have another brain there. There were definitely a couple times we bounced stuff off of each other and talked it out and complimented each other,” Chris said. “We’ve done pretty much everything together — running Zorbaz, running a bar restaurant, we’ve curled together… We do all these fun adventures and experiences together, so it was really nice to have her there.”

“We are addicted to fun,” Ashley said. “We are so addicted to fun and we just chase it everywhere we go.”