Oklahoma City game show fans have a shot at spinning for cash and vacations next week, as Wheel of Fortune LIVE! rolls into The Criterion on Saturday, Nov. 7, with doors opening at 7 p.m. and the show kicking off at 8 p.m. The touring stage production randomly pulls audience members to play the game live, with contestants spinning a replica Wheel, calling consonants, buying vowels and solving puzzles just like on television.
According to The Journal Record, randomly selected audience members who get called up to play could walk away with trips to Paris and Hawaii or up to $10,000 in cash. The touring version of the long-running game show is produced by Sony Pictures Television and brought to The Criterion alongside Right Angle Entertainment, the outlet reports. Contestants are chosen in groups of three straight from the crowd, according to Wheel of Fortune LIVE!'s official site, which notes the show features “multiple groups of three randomly selected contestants” who play onstage.
The Criterion sits at 500 E. Sheridan Ave. in Oklahoma City and opened in 2016 with capacity to welcome over 3,000 guests, per the venue's own site. Getting picked to play isn't guaranteed just by showing up with a ticket — registration at the venue opens roughly two hours before showtime and closes 10 minutes before the show starts, and buying a VIP package does not guarantee a spot onstage, organizers say.
Who Can Actually Play
There is an age requirement for anyone hoping to spin the Wheel themselves: contestants must be at least 18 years old to register, though audience members of all ages are welcome to attend and watch. Fans shouldn't expect to see the show's familiar TV faces walking the aisles, either — Vanna White and Ryan Seacrest do not tour with the live production, which instead relies on its own hosts and media personalities.
Jay Flats, who has appeared on Fox's Hell's Kitchen, is hosting Wheel of Fortune LIVE! in Oklahoma City for a second year, The Journal Record reports. That account conflicts with wording on the production's own talent page, which describes Flats as making his Wheel of Fortune LIVE! debut this year — a discrepancy the available materials do not resolve.
A Path to the TV Show, Too
The stage show isn't just a one-night novelty for superfans chasing a taping slot. Several fans from last year's tour went on to appear on television, according to The Journal Record, and the newspaper reports that fans can submit applications directly to producers' priority queue for a chance to appear on the televised show. That onsite audition path lines up with how the tour is promoted elsewhere: a Connecticut venue listing from Shubert.com says fans can audition on-site at a stop for a shot at joining the TV show alongside Seacrest and White at a future taping.
The live tour is riding the momentum of a hit television show. Wheel of Fortune has attracted more than 73 million viewers this season, a 3% increase year over year, The Journal Record reports, and the game show remains the No. 1 entertainment series on linear television. Those numbers track with figures reported by fourwindscasino.com, which cited more than 73 million viewers tuning in this season across linear and streaming, up 3% from the previous year.
Behind the Scenes and on the Road
Wheel of Fortune is produced by Sony Pictures Television and executive produced by Bellamie Blackstone, The Journal Record notes. The show's broadcast ratings have also been climbing: it averaged 7.93 million viewers during the 2024-2025 season, a bump of 74,000 viewers over the prior year, and posted a 4.6 household rating, up 1% year over year, according to a report from Variety. During its September 2024 premiere month alone, the show averaged 7.99 million viewers, making it the most-watched entertainment program on linear television outside of sports and news, Variety reported.
The Oklahoma City stop is part of a much larger road trip for the production. Wheel of Fortune LIVE! is scheduled to visit nearly 30 cities during its 2026 North American tour, per fourwindscasino.com, which also detailed stops at Four Winds New Buffalo's Silver Creek Event Center in Michigan on Oct. 31 and Nov. 1. Whether Oklahomans get picked to spin the big Wheel or simply watch from their seats, the Nov. 7 show offers a rare chance to see a television institution play out live, just blocks from downtown.
