"...and he is sitting right over there!"

The spotlight shone directly on Ryan and those sitting around her. He and his friends had come to several tapings in the past hoping that at least one of them would get a chance to run the gauntlet that was American Roulette.

“Ryan Schultz,” Laura announced, “please come down to the stage for you shot at five-hundred thousand dollars!”

Ryan couldn’t believe his luck.

“Yes!” he exclaimed, pumping both his arms in the air.

His friends gave him a congratulatory cheer as he made his way down the row to the main stairway. The spotlight half followed him and half lead him towards the stage. The crowd cheered him on from all sides--it was deafening. He climbed the steps and stood in front of Laura with the bright lights shining on him. Slowly, the elation of his luck fell away and the harsh reality of what lay ahead.

“What do you do, Ryan?” Laura asked her.

“I sell cars for a living,” he answered to modest applause.

“Your coworkers must be proud of you. What do you plan to do with the winnings?”

“I will probably take a vacation and pay off my student loans.”

“Very nice. Would you please take your spot next to the wheel?”

Ryan nodded. One of the props on the stage was a large, vertical wheel with many different colored wedges on it. Next to the wheel was a small ‘X’ made of tape on the floor for him to stand on.

“Very good,” Laura said to him before turning to address the cameras and the crowd. “If you’re new to the show, here’s what about to happen. There will be ten rounds. In each round, Ryan, here, will spin the wheel. Wherever the wheel lands, that is the challenge that he will have to face. Each round he wins, he will gain more money. But if he fails, he will get a handicap that will make future challenges more difficult. Seven mistakes and he’ll put on a show for everyone! Are you ready, Ryan?”

He nodded nervously and grabbed the wheel with both hands. Thoughts of glory and misery flooded his mind, but he pushed them away with a deep breath and a smile. He spun the wheel with all of his might, sending it clattering around its axis. Ryan clapped with the crowd while the wheel turned.

After what seemed like forever, the wheel slowed to a stop on a gold-colored wedge. Laura walked over and pulled the wedge off of the wheel and turned it over.

“And the first challenge is,” Laura announced as she read the words on the wedge, “a quiz question. Ryan, for five-thousand dollars, who played Alfred Pennyworth in the 2008 film The Dark Knight? You have thirty seconds to answer.”

“Um,” Ryan began. He could see the actor's face but his name eluded him.