AUBURN – Julie Bennett showed up for work Monday with Dunkin’ Donuts coffee and everyone thought it was a sign.

She must have done well on “Wheel of Fortune.”

Co-workers at Edward Little High School, she laughed, are looking for any clue. Bennett, 25, a ninth-grade government teacher, taped an episode of the popular game show on Thursday. Until it airs Dec. 7, she can’t say how she did. Bennett hasn’t even told her parents. They’ll drive down from Caribou to watch with her that night.

“It was so nerve-wracking; it was probably the most nerve-wracking thing I’ve ever done. I thought I’d have a heart attack,” Bennett said.

She tried out for the show when the “Wheelmobile” came to the Yarmouth Clam Festival in July. Organizers pulled her name out of a box, at random. A month later she got an invite to the second round of auditions.

Bennett was ultimately picked and got a letter with a two-week notice that she’d be taping on Nov. 15. She had days to plan a whirlwind vacation to California; contestants are responsible for getting themselves out to the studio.

On the big day, there was a thick contract to sign, rules about what not to say, where to look. She and other players took test spins on the wheel, “which is really heavy, it was like a ton.”

“Wheel of Fortune” filmed six episodes that day.

“We drew golf balls from a bucket to see what show we were going to be on,” Bennett said. She drew fifth.

It was an 11-hour day and surprising, in hindsight, how quickly it went, she added. Her boyfriend, Craig Latuscha, who’s also a ninth-grade government teacher at EL, got to share in the excitement.

And it’s true what they say, Bennett agreed. Solving all those puzzles is harder in person.

“Sitting in the audience, I was pretty warmed up and getting them,” she said. “As soon as I was on the pedestal waiting to spin the wheel, it was so different.”

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