Gabriel Berkowitz, 27, has always enjoyed words.
His mother told him that when he learned to read, words would often distract him while he was doing other things. In fifth grade, Gabriel represented the Hebrew Academy of Nassau County, in West Hempstead, at the Long Island Scripps Howard News Service Spelling Bee at Old Bethpage Middle School.
“I’ve always been this way,” Berkowitz said. “I’ve always loved words, was obsessed with reading and word games.”
The West Hempstead native recently became a “Wheel of Fortune” champion, after appearing on a Sept. 9 episode of the game show and walking away with prizes valued at $86,560.
“I’ve been watching ‘Wheel of Fortune’ since I was a child,” Berkowitz, who’s now an account executive at a theatrical advertising agency, said. He shared that when he was growing up, episodes of ‘Jeopardy’ and ‘Wheel’ were often on in the background.
“Truthfully, my dream has always been to be on ‘Jeopardy,’” he added. “I’ve been trying out for over ten years.”
In 2020, Berkowitz decided to audition for ‘Wheel’ as well, submitting a video to the show’s producers, making his case for why he would be a great contestant. “Sitting on my couch, I was really good at it,” he said. “I thought I could probably do pretty well on TV.”
In 2023 he finally received a call back, and took part in a Zoom audition. But it would be two more years before Berkowitz was invited to take part in a taping of the show in Los Angeles, on Aug. 20.
To prepare, he read about past contestants’ experiences on Reddit, and played the “Wheel of Fortune” mobile game. He also credited the games in The New York Times for helping him prepare.
“I do the crossword, Wordle and Connections every day,” he said. “It keeps my mind moving quickly, and I think that’s really the key to ‘Wheel of Fortune,’ to be able to think quickly.”
The day before the taping, Berkowitz flew to Culver City, in Los Angeles, with his brother, Jake, and his best friend, Grace. The next morning, he arrived on the set at around 6:30 a.m., where he was taken on a tour, filled out paperwork and then prepared for his appearance.
“We rehearsed spinning the wheel and yelling out the letters,” he recounted.
“Wheel” films six episodes each day of production; Berkowitz was in the second one of the day. He stood out on the stage, in a yellow zebra-print jacket, and solved all but one of the word puzzles.
“My biggest fear going into the day was that the wheel wasn’t going to be my friend,” he said. “I knew I was good at the game, and the only thing that could ruin my chances was if the wheel was not my friend.”
But Berkowitz amazed the crowd, and host Ryan Seacrest, when he answered the prize puzzle “Perfect for Whale Watching,” with only five letters on the board. For that he won an eight-day, $14,500 whale-watching trip to Baja California, Mexico.
He chalked his performance up to his ability to keep a cool head on stage — which, he said, grew out of his experience in a number of theater and choral productions in West Hempstead schools.
Going in to the final bonus round, Berkowitz already knew the answer to his puzzle before picking consonants and vowels for the board. His final word, “journaling,” won him a Mazda MX-5 Miata RF.
He also walked away with $30,000 in cash. Then, after watching the tapings of a few other episodes, he celebrated his win with his guests by exploring the area before flying back to New York that evening.
“For days after, when I was waking up in my bed back in Harlem, it felt surreal,” Berkowitz said. “I would be like, did that really happen?”
Three weeks after the taping, on Sept. 9, the episode aired, and Berkowitz held a viewing party at Prost Grill & Garten, in Garden City, for friends and family. “They all had their jaws on the floor,” he said. “I stood by the TV, sort of like Vanna White, narrating and giving little factoids about what shooting was like.”
Berkowitz received congratulations from co-workers and distant friends alike. “It’s been really great,” he said. “If the opportunity arose to go back, I would do it in a heartbeat. But also, ‘Jeopardy’ is the next goal for me.”
