Monday, April 1, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.
Sun Staff Reports
The 'Wheel' was full of fortune for Janet Mikealson-Lenox.
The Las Vegas actress recently won about $44,000 in cash and prizes while competing on the word-puzzle game show "Wheel of Fortune."
Mikealson-Lenox, who had a role in last summer's production of "Oliver" at Spring Mountain Ranch, had been trying to become a contestant on the show for two years.
"I knew this was my one shot," she said.
Her games began airing last week and will conclude with tonight's show at 7 p.m. "Wheel of Fortune" airs locally on KVBC Channel 3.
Besides $36,000 in cash, she also won $4,000 in silverware and a trip to the Olympics in Atlanta this summer.
So, how do the 37-year-old mother and her husband, John Lenox, a financial consultant, plan to spend her newfound fortunes?
"We're thinking about doing a few things," she said. Like putting a down payment on a house, buying a computer for their son and another car.
Taping the show, she said, "was a lot of fun." Staffers "try to get you really energetic."
What about the show's famed letter-turning co-host Vanna White?
"I told her she looked pretty," she said. "We were talking about our (similar) haircuts, how great having short hair is."
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