Vanna White News

3 Dallas-area residents set for stardom on Wheel of Fortune this week

They'll get to meet Pat and Vanna.

Wheel of Fortune

Three Dallas residents are about to find temporary fame and hopefully fortune this week via appearances on TV show Wheel of Fortune. Beginning January 31, the beloved geriatric staple is doing a theme week, called "Celebrating the Local Flavor of…" that spotlights a different city each night.

On Thursday, February 3, the show is spotlighting Dallas-Fort Worth. This will manifest in two ways.

First, they've worked with local affiliate, KTVT/CBS 11 — which broadcasts the show every night at 6:30 pm (as you surely already know) — to create segments and teasers from Dallas that will air during the episode.

Second, the three contestants on the show that night are from the Dallas-Fort Worth area and will spin the iconic Wheel and gasp, meet Pat Sajak and Vanna White.

The competing contestants and their Wheel of Fortune bios are as follows:

Katie Yorimitsu of Royse City. Married with one son, Katie works at her family bakery in downtown Fate. She loves living in a small town, but also enjoys the close proximity to Dallas and Rockwall. Katie has been watching the show for years, says "It still feels crazy to be selected as a contestant." She hopes to make her city proud and bring that small, hometown feel. Any cash or prizes will be shared with her family.

Chris Matta of Mesquite. An I.T. manager who is married with four children, Matta loves the social and professional opportunities Dallas offers and cheers for all the local sports teams. Chris has been a Wheel Watcher since he was a kid and has fond memories of trying to solve the puzzles while watching his grandfather. He now watches with his children, and they encouraged him to apply at WheelofFortune.com with a video submission. Chris describes being selected as a contestant as "rewarding in so many ways," from the joyful reaction of kids to knowing that "if Grandfather was still with us, he would be over the moon."

Dr. Kchristshan Howard of Cedar Hill is a choir teacher and mother of four children. In her spare time, she is actively involved in the community, encouraging youth to nurture their gifts in music and fine arts. She has been watching the show for almost 30 years and being selected to play as a contestant is a dream come true. Kchristshan plans to put any potential cash winnings towards a new house for her and her kids.

The other cities where Wheel of Fortune will "Celebrate the Local Flavor of…" are New York, San Diego, Baltimore, and Cincinnati. Dallas is so cool.

They're also soliciting contestants and encourage you to submit applications at www.wheeloffortune.com/join/be-a-contestant for a chance to be invited to a virtual audition. There, potential contestants can show off their puzzle-solving skills and potentially be selected to appear as a contestant on the show from their home. If selected to be on the show, everyone goes home with a minimum of $1,000.

Wheel Watchers Club members will want to pay specific attention to the Mystery Round. If the $10,000 Mystery Wedge is won by a contestant, then the SPIN ID of a viewer at home will be revealed, giving them the chance to also win $10,000.

Amazingly, that's not the only local to make it big on TV. Dallas Americana singer Joshua Ray Walker will appear on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on Tuesday February 1, to perform his single "Sexy After Dark," from his 2021 album See You Next Time on State Fair Records. DoubleWide, the Deep Ellum bar, is hosting a watch party that begins at 9:30 pm.

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Movie Review

Much-anticipated film sequel Gladiator II tells a very familiar story

Photo courtesy of Paramount Pictures

Paul Mescal in Gladiator II.

There are some films for which making a sequel is natural, and others where a follow-up is wholly unnecessary. Gladiator, which made both tons of money and was named Best Picture at the Oscars, told an impactful stand-alone story that ended with the protagonist dead and no real loose ends. And yet because there’s always more money to be made, here we are 24 years later with Gladiator II.

The lead character this time around is Lucius (Paul Mescal), a general in a North African army who becomes a prisoner of war when the Roman army led by Marcus Acacius (Pedro Pascal) bests him and his troops in battle. Taken back to Rome, he is put in the pool of captured men forced to fight at the Colosseum for the amusement of twin emperors Geta (Joseph Quinn) and Caracella (Fred Hechinger).

Lucius is controlled by Macrinus (Denzel Washington), an ambitious schemer who bets liberally on his prized fighter and always has an eye to move up in the world. Meanwhile, Lucilla (Connie Nielsen), the sister of Emperor Commodus from the first film, is now married to Marcus Acacius and has a unique connection with Lucius that is fairly obvious from the get-go.

Directed once again by Ridley Scott and written by David Scarpa, the film commits a number of sins throughout its 150-minute running time, the most blatant of which is that, aside from a few embellishments, it essentially tells the same story as the first film. Lucius, like Maximus, is a deposed military leader who’s out for revenge on the person who killed his family. Instead of one obnoxious emperor, there are now two. And the only way for Lucius to earn his freedom is to fight his way out.

Stories told in the same world can echo each other and, if done well, overcome those similarities. But Gladiator II is shockingly boring for a purported sword-and-sandals epic. Scott and his team try to introduce new elements to the fights, like a gladiator riding a rhinoceros or a ship battle inside the Colosseum (with sharks!), but most of the sequences are inert with no propulsion to them.

The action fails because none of the relationships in the film amount to much. There are stand-out characters like Macrinus and the twin emperors, but instead of creating antipathy or strong feelings of triumph or defeat, the story just kind of happens without any sense of excitement or importance. Much of that issue lies at the feet of Lucius, who simply doesn’t inspire in the same way that Russell Crowe’s Maximus did.

Mescal is a fine actor who’s done good work in more intimate roles, but he’s not up to the task of being an action star, at least not in this film. Any bombast he shows with the character feels forced, and the story doesn’t give him enough opportunities to counteract that lack. Washington, however, fills up the screen with his charisma, and it’s during his scenes that the film comes closest to being rousing. Quinn and Hechinger are a lot of fun as the twin emperors, but in the end they feel like retreads of Joaquin Phoenix from the original.

Any sequel should have a purpose that sets it apart from what came before, but Scott, Scarpa, and the rest of their team fail in that respect in Gladiator II. It’s a mostly lifeless film that delivers scenes that would be exciting if they had any kind of good story to back them up.

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Gladiator II opens in theaters on November 22.

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