Sony Pictures Television/Photographer: Eric McCandless
Alexis Wiggley ’17 likes to say she’s living in her “why not era,” so when a casting call for the prime-time game show Wheel of Fortune popped up on Wiggley’s Instagram feed last year, she decided to try her luck.
It paid off. Wiggley was the top winner on Wednesday night’s episode of Wheel of Fortune, taking home cash and prizes valued at more than $21,000—including a cruise to British Columbia.
She recounts the exhilarating experience of appearing on the show she says generations of her family grew up watching. Earlier this year, Wiggley flew to Los Angeles, where she met Wheel of Fortune hosts Vanna White and Ryan Seacrest. Her winning episode was filmed before a live studio audience.
“I love puzzles, and I’m usually really, really good, but when I got (to the studio) and they said we were live, my heart was pounding. I was like, ‘Alexis, please just breathe,’” Wiggley says.
In the beginning of the episode, one of the other contestants was up $9,000, while Wiggley and a fellow competitor had yet to claim any cash or prizes. As the game turned around for Wiggley, she says her favorite puzzle was solving the phrase, “Having a Whale of a Good Time,” which resulted in her winning the cruise to British Columbia, where she plans to go whale watching.
“I was telling people, ‘I’m the comeback kid,’” Wiggley joked about her win.
The show was also especially meaningful, as Wiggley announced her engagement to fiancé Stanley St. Louis. Although the couple got engaged last year, neither are active on social media, so a lot of their friends weren’t yet aware, Wiggley says. St. Louis and her mother, Del, were at the taping to cheer her on from the audience.
After winning, Wiggley explained her mantra to Seacrest, “I’m in my why not era, so why not just do it?”
“Every time I do it, it always works out. Taking a chance on things has changed my life in a way,” Wiggley says.
That same attitude helped guide her path at Moravian, where Wiggley double majored in financial economics and political science. She was, among many things, vice president of the Pre-Law Club, a member of the Student Leadership Council, the Council for Diversity and Inclusion, as well as secretary of Omicron Delta Epsilon, which is the Economic and Business Honor Society.
When Wiggley was a first-year student in 2014, she and her classmates founded Moravian’s Black Student Union (BSU) to enrich the experience of Moravian’s Black students. Wiggley went on to serve as president of the organization. She has continued her relationship with Moravian by serving on the university’s Alumni Association Board of Directors.
“I think that’s something that probably strengthened me when I was at Moravian—just doing things and showing up and putting yourself out there to see what happens,” Wiggley says.
Chris Hunt, Moravian’s vice president and dean for inclusive excellence, remembers Wiggley from when she was a student and says she was very involved on campus from the beginning of her college career. Hunt, who was the founding advisor of BSU, worked with Wiggley regularly and the two have kept in touch over the years.
“What she has gone on to achieve so early in her career is remarkable,” Hunt says. “For her to earn her JD and be an analyst at Moody’s as well as a commercial real estate attorney—especially as a Black woman—is phenomenal, and I think it’s a testament to the quality of a Moravian education.”
After graduation, Wiggley received a full-ride scholarship to pursue her Juris Doctor degree with a certificate in business law from Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri. She worked as an attorney specializing in commercial real estate law for four years before joining Moody’s Ratings last September as a lead structured finance legal review associate.
In fact, Wiggley attended the Wheel of Fortune casting call at Rivers Casino in Philadelphia, about 30 minutes from her home in Westampton, New Jersey, one week before she was to start her new job at the global risk assessment and credit rating firm.
“I think that’s something that probably strengthened me when I was at Moravian—just doing things and showing up and putting yourself out there to see what happens.”
Alexis Wiggley ’17
After an in-person audition in Philadelphia and two Zoom interviews, Wiggley learned she would be on the show. By that point, she was about two months into her new role at Moody’s.
“I was like, ‘Is it ok if I do this?,’” Wiggley says. “They said, ‘We’ve never had this type of situation before, but why not? Go ahead.’”
On the night Wiggley’s episode aired on television, she says she was overwhelmed with the number of text messages and screen shots her family, friends, and colleagues excitedly sent her.
On the game show, contestants try to determine a hidden phrase by guessing consonants on a puzzle board. They spin a wheel to determine cash values or other prizes and they can buy vowels for $250. Wiggley was surprised by how heavy the namesake wheel is. “They tell you to make sure you grab only the top of the wheel so your hand doesn’t get caught but it’s extremely heavy so you really have to spin it hard,” she says.
What’s next for Wiggley? She plans to run two 5k races and a 10k in Philadelphia this year with her fiancé. Wiggley ran her first race last year, right before her 30th birthday. Like her Wheel of Fortune win, Wiggley was guided by the same moto: “I said, ‘Why not go for it.’”
Did You Know?
- Wheel of Fortune originally premiered on NBC in 1975
- The price of a vowel hasn’t changed in more than 30 years
- The wheel weighs approximately 2,400 pounds
- The show has awarded $250 million in cash and prizes since it first aired
- Wheel of Fortune has earned seven Emmy Awards
Info courtesy of wheeloffortune.com/more/the-show.