When “Lets Make A Deal” aired Friday, April 5 on CBS, psychology MAT graduate Grambling State students Tyesha White from Ruston and Shalonda Jackson of Jonesboro had a few friends and family over.
The upcoming spring graduates, wanted to watch because when the annoucer said, Come on DOWN!!! Tyesha White did.
“I was clapping and in astonishment all the way down,” she said.
To hear them tell their story is priceless.
In November, White and her friend and classmate took a trip to Los Angeles. One of the things they’d planned for this trip: get in to see a game show. With many of them offering free tickets, or at least a chance at them.
“It turned out, the long-running show in which contestants battled to seal a deal – without being “Zonked” was the only one we could get to,” White said. We just set up our reservation, right across town from Sunset Brunson Studios where the bargain battle is taped, and the reply came back: two tickets to be in the audience for November 25, 2012 taping.
White and Jackson are pretty sure that their school’s GSU chant is what singled them to be contestants on the show.
It might have also been the black and gold graduation attire they wore for their customs that symbolizes their Alma Mater Grambling State University.
After that it was time to take a seat and wait for the “Come on DOWN!” that is the signature to start the game show.
The first six contestants were called, the deals were set – leaving a spot to be filled.
“We looked at each other and the looks on our faces said what did we get ourselves into?” she said.
The crowd went wild and I almost couldnt believe the chances of being called, remembers White.
That was only the beginning.
White went up to seal the first deal successfully – CBS rules wont let her talk about what she won or how much its worth, or she loses it- and it got her on stage again for a chance at the “Big Deal of the Day”.
“During the commerical break before the showcase, Wayne Brady got everyone into signing “Jump Around” by House of Pain,” recalls White.
It will be a story that will last White and Jackson a lifetime.
White, 25, is currently employed as a Social Service Analyst with DCFS in Caddo Parish.
Besides attending school, Tyesha and Shalonda love to travel and said they would do the game show again, even if they never won anything.
White said, “If thats our 15 mins of fame, so be it, we enjoyed representing our alma mater every minute of it.”