So..here's a cool fact about me. Not many people know this...
I mean actually only like 10 people know this.
BUT.....
A month after I moved to LA, I won 26K on a game show!!
Twas one of the coolest experiences I've had so far. Top 3 alongside working with Betty White and going to a symphony that only played Disney music.
I didn't talk about it much because for a while legally I wasn't even allowed to talk about it, until the show aired, and by that point it was almost a year later and if I hadn't already "secretly" told you, then I wasn't going to tell you all of a sudden. That would be weird, right?
Me: "Hey, are you going to finish your pizza? By the way, 9 months ago I won a game show."
Friend I'm obvi not that close to: "You DID WHAT?! Why are you just now telling me this?!?"
Me: "I don't know......"
I know what you're wondering! Did I ever get that pizza?
Okay, I know what you're REALLY wondering. How did I win a game show?!
I will tell you.
It was literally a month after I moved to LA, my acting teacher told our class that his casting director friend was casting a game show and needed some actors to pretend they weren't actors and go on the show. So I thought, meh, why not. Sounds fun. So I went to the audition, and there were some actors there and there were also some real people and basically producers watched us play trivia for an hour and tried to gauge how enthusiastic and entertaining we'd be if we were on the show. So I put on my best peppy cheerleader face and got a callback, which led to getting a slot on one of the show's episodes.
Two days before my designated shoot day, I wrecked my rental car. My car wasn't here yet and I needed a way to get around. So, dealt with the stress of that day and got a new rental. Next day, eating lunch by myself at a cafe when I see the new rental car being towed away. Apparently I didn't read the "Can park anytime Mon-Fri" with the very tiny font underneath "Except Wednesday at 4."
Guess what day and time it was? Yep.
So after forking over quite a bit of money in 48 hours, I had a breakdown in the (second) rental car after I got it back and thought that LA was telling me to go home, and told myself I needed a sign to reassure me I'd made the right decision in moving.
Morning of game, have to be there at 6am. Wake up and decide I'm going to ditch. It was too early!
THE END!
....just kidding. I totally went.
So the way the game works, it's blackjack meets trivia. I don't know shit about blackjack but I'm decent at knowing rando facts. And because they were shooting 6 episodes in one day, I just sat in the audience for the first few games and watched how the game was played. Let me tell you, I didn't know one single trivia answer. Not one. Maybe one, but defintiely not two. They were so hard and no one was winning and I told myself, "Well, you're screwed."
Then it was time for my "episode" to shoot. I got on stage with the two other contestants, one of whom I let borrow my shirt (in retrospect this was probably good karma points for me) and the game began.
Everyone has seen Slumdog Millionaire, right? How he knows all the answers to the questions because he was meant to know those answers? Because they had just revealed themselves to him in his life?
Well, that was me! Somehow, somehow, I knew the answers to all the questions. It's freaky, actually. I mean, they asked an Oscars question, a Friends question, a DESSERT question, it was like "We're going to just call this episode, the Sara Amini Favorites Show."
Remember how I said I was decent at trivia but didn't know shit about blackjack? So I was killing at trivia but wasn't so good at blackjack. Once one contestant was knocked out and it was down to me and borrowed-shirt girl, she had just gotten 20 and froze. So in BlackJack, the goal is to try to get to 21, right? So, this girl was at 20. And I was at 17. If I got anything less than a 4 I'd lose because she'd beat me in points. If I got anything over a 4, I'd lose because I got over 21.
They were drawing my card when I said silently, "God if I'm supposed to do this, make it happen."
I got a 4.
I can't explain the feeling. The audience went bonkers, I was in shock. Everything felt all slow-motiony. There were 9 other numbers or 4 face cards I could have gotten instead, but I got a 4.
THAT.SHIT.CRAY.
That money helped me keep going that first year when I subsequently got hit while driving and had my car totaled, couldn't find a steady job, and wasn't getting anywhere with acting. It gave me a little security blanket in a city that I wasn't able to call home yet. I will never forget how hard the first year living in LA was and how that day made that year worthwhile.
Only like two people have recognized me from the show and asked me about it, I guess not too many people watch GSN? I sent my only dvd copy to my mother who dropped it on the floor and broke it so I can't even watch it again.
I find moments like these don't come when we want them but when we need them the most. So keep working hard, even when you feel like you can't work any harder, work as hard as you fucking can because you never know when you're going to draw that lucky card.
And brush up on your trivia, it also might come in handy.
*If you're reading this and you're a big Hollywood producer who was inspired by my story and would like to make my biopic, Slumdog Millionaire 2, all I ask is that Paul Rudd play the game show host. I really think he'd be great.
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